Bangladesh police arrested 41 former officers on Monday, among a larger group of 1,059 ex-policemen accused of atrocities during the 2024 student-led protests that led to the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina, the leader of the Awami League, resigned and fled to India on August 5 after protests against the quota system escalated into a movement that ended her 16-year rule. The unrest, which lasted from July to August, resulted in the deaths of around 1,400 people.

According to Prothom Alo newspaper, hundreds of cases were filed by victims or their families, accusing the 1,059 officials of crimes during the protests. So far, 41 former officers have been arrested, including former inspectors general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun and AKN Shahidul Haque, and former police commissioners Mohammad Asaduzzaan and Mian Saiful Islam.

The highest number of cases, 174, were filed against Harunur Rashid, the former additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, who is now a fugitive.

The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report last week, stating that Bangladesh’s security forces used excessive force, leading to “extrajudicial killings” as part of a coordinated repression strategy.

“Based on the material before it, OHCHR has reasonable grounds to believe that police and paramilitary state security forces resorted to use of force violations against protesters, including systematic and widespread extrajudicial killings as part of a coordinated strategy of repression,” it read.

The OHCHR found that many of the victims were shot by security forces using military rifles and shotguns loaded with lethal pellets, with some protesters being killed at point-blank range.

The Bangladesh government has vowed to investigate the events with committees led by senior police officers.