By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, Dec 11, 2024 (BSS) – Abdur Rahman Jisan (24) and Rabeya Akter Misty (19) tied knot 14 months ago with a commitment of passing the rest of their life together holding hands of each other until their death .
 
They got a love marriage and loved each other more than their own life.
But the fortune did not favor them as both Jisan and Misty left the perishable world so early of their ages following the anti-discrimination student movement in the face of which the country has been free from the stigma of fascism.

Jisan, only son of South Sudan expatriate Babul Sarder, was shot dead by police on July 20 at Rayerbag area while he was distributing water among protesters on the streets.

His death exposed his family members including his beloved wife to a sea of unbearable sorrow and pain. As a result, being failed to contain the grief, Jisan’s teenager wife Misty ‘committed suicide’ on July 29, just nine days after he embraced the martyrdom.

While talking to BSS, Jisan’s  mother Jesmine Akter at her Rayerbag residence said her son was engaged in supplying water to different shops and residences in the city’s Jatrabari area.

As her husband is an expatriate, she along with her son and daughter-in-law has been living in the Rashidbag area of Rayerbag. Their only daughter Jannatul Ferdous has been married off.

“Since the beginning of the anti-discrimination student movement, my son has stood beside the student protesters and distributed water and juice among them. And he was always on the streets with the protesters until his martyrdom,” Jesmine said in a heavy voice.

She used to bar Jisan to join the streets movement, but he did not heed to her advice.

“. . . I could not stay at home. Thousands of my brothers are on the streets. They are working for us. I want to stand by them,” Jesmine quoted her son as he told her in a jolly mode four or five days before his demise.

On the day of Jisan’s martyrdom, weeping Jesmine said all family members barred him not to go outside as there was a terrible situation in the Rayerbag area due to the killing of two policemen there.

Jesmine burst into tears while recalling that in the morning of July 20, they all family members had breakfast together and engaged in gossip in a happy mood.

“That was my last meal with my son. I cannot accept that I can never have a meal with him,” she said in an emotion choked voice.

At one stage of the gossip, Jesmine quoted her son as he was saying, “No matter how much you are trying to convince me, but I have to go outside. Ammu (mother), please, don’t bar me from joining the protest. If I am shot dead in the movement, you will be the proud mother of a martyr. You will be honored”.

Jisan was shot by police around 5.30pm on the day in front of his father-in-law Matiur Rahman’s house at the entrance of Rashidbag 2no gali (lane) adjacent to Rayerbag foot over bridge when Matiur was witnessing the incident from the roof of his house.

Matiur, a pickup van driver, said, “Police were firing live bullets indiscriminately and moving forward from roads to residential areas. At one stage, police came to entrances of different residential lanes (goli) and continued firing”.

At that time Jisan was on the way to his home after supplying water with his rickshaw van, he said, adding, “When he reached in front of my house, I was witnessing, a bullet first hit an electricity pillar just opposite to my house and then it hit Jisan’s right eye”.

As the police were also firing tear shells at that time, the whole area was smoky, he said, adding, “Therefore, before I got down from my house, Jisan’s friends, who were then with him, took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH)”.

Matiur said the police were rampant on that day as their two members were killed on this spot on 19 and 20 July. Police fired bullets in such a way that animals like cats and dogs were also not spared from shooting, he added.

As the situation was very bad along the road to reach the DMCH, Matiur said, he along with Jisan’s mother and wife was very late to reach the hospital.
“I think if we could reach the hospital sometime before, we could see Jisan alive,” said Jisan’s mother in a heavy voice.

Narrating the harassment and problems they faced in getting the body from the DMCH, Jesmine said, “Finally, we got the body two days later without autopsy. And we laid Jisan to his eternal rest at the Matuail graveyard here”.

Speaking about Jisan’s dream, she said he had very simple and small dreams.

He used to say he will have no more wealth but a beautiful home and a small and happy family while his mother will live beside him in a room with an attached bathroom. Jisan’s wish was that his wife would maintain parda (veiling).

Jesmine said her son had a dream of buying a motorcycle with his own income as “We did not give him a bike for fear of a road accident”.

About Jisan’s business plan, his mother said he had already signed an agreement with his existing employer to take over the business from August 1.

“Before we overcome the shock of the death of our son, we fell victims of another tragedy as our daughter-in-law left us by committing suicide at her father’s house after failing to contain her grief of losing her husband,” Jesmine said.

“Jisan and Misty were like a pair of birds. They had a good intimacy as they had a love marriage. Misty committed suicide as she cannot imagine living without Jisan,” she added.

Minara Begum, Misty’s bereaved mother, burst into tears when she was recalling memories of her youngest daughter. She said Misty had stopped eating following her husband's death and often used to cry holding the clothes of Jishan.

“Misty was the youngest among my two daughters. She used to take care of me. I cannot forget her. I cannot sleep since her demise,” weeping Minara said while she was observed sick due to excessive tension.

She said they buried Misty at their village graveyard in Rangpur sadar upazila.
Besides, Jisan’s mother became bewildered after losing his only son. “I cannot imagine that my beloved son is no more among us.

 I cannot bear the pain of losing two children- son and his wife- at a time,” Jesmine was saying and weeping her eyes.

Jisan’s mother wants the trial of those who killed her son.

Though the Jisan-Misty couple could not see the new sun of new Bangladesh following the downfall of the fascist regime on August 5 when autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina fled the country in face of the student-people uprising, their contribution to this mass-movement will be remembered forever.