By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, Dec 16, 2024 (BSS) – Grief-stricken mother Rasheda Begum  hectically is searching for grave of her beloved son but she does not know when grave will be discovered.

She cannot absorb Intolerable agony of ruthless fate of her son and her restless mind does not understand anything.

Md Sohel Rana went missing as he joined the street protest. After his missing, family members continued their efforts to find out him.  After their long efforts, they confirmed that Sohel embraced martyrdom but his grave was undiscovered.   

Over one month of searching efforts, they knew that Sohel was buried in an unmarked grave at Rayerbazar by Anjuman-e-Mafidul Islam along with many others.

His grief stricken mother just wants to see exactly where he is lying in his eternal rest.  

“Before leaving the house around 7pm on July 18, my son slept throughout the day beside me. Since then I couldn’t see my son,” a weeping Rasheda Begum, who is in her late 50’s, told BSS.

She said: “Five month has passed; still I could not know which my son’s grave is. I want nothing but to see my son’s grave.”

According to documents the family members of Sohel received from the police station and Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), he was shot dead in the evening of July 18 when a massive crackdown was launched on the peaceful demonstration of the anti-discrimination student movement.

A 37-year-old export-oriented apparel businessman, Sohel joined the demonstration on that day at Kajla area of Jatrabari. Before stepping out from his Mohammadbag residence in the Kadamtali area of Jatrabari, he posted a few videos on his Facebook and TikTok accounts.

These videos voiced his solidarity with agitating students and condemning the brutal killings by government forces.

Sohel was the eldest among his five siblings- four brothers and one sister. His only sister Lovely Akter (32) is married while his brothers- Md Jwel (29) is a small trader while Md Rubel (24) and Md Nabil (19) are unemployed. His father Md Lal Miah (65) is now unable to work due to illness. Hailing from Louhajanj Upazila of Munshiganj, the family has been living in Mohammadbag area for a long time.    

Recalling their frantic search for his brother, Nabil said on the night Sohel disappeared, they found his mobile phone switched off around 10pm.

“Being unable to reach him over the phone, we became anxious and started searching for him in the neighborhood and visited police stations, thinking he had been detained. But we never imagined the worst—that he might have been killed,” he said in a heavy voice.

Nabil, however, said they went to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and the National Burn Institute three days later to find his brother among the corpses kept there.

“We searched the morgues, combing through rows of lifeless bodies. Our search yielded nothing but heartache. Many bodies lay there, but my brother wasn’t among them,” he said in a composed tone while trying to control his emotion.

On someone’s advice, later, they contacted Anjuman Mufidul Islam, an organization that buries unclaimed bodies. But their records offered no trace of Sohel either.

As internet service was suspended at that time, Nabil said, making communication was nearly impossible. “When the internet was restored, we shared Sohel’s disappearance widely across social media, but there was no response, leaving the hope to dwindle,” he added.

As the situation was deteriorating gradually since July 17, the family could not carry out a massive search for Sohel as the country grappled with turmoil.

“On August 5, amid a student-led uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina to flee the country, we renewed our search with vigor. Yet, every attempt to find him proved futile,” Nabil recounted their rigorous attempt to find his brother.

“On July 28 or 29, we stumbled upon a video on a facebook page named ‘Sairachar Mukta Desh Chai’. It showed my brother’s lifeless body lying on a road, alongside the body of a child,” he said, adding, but they failed to contact the owner of the page.

“Finally we got a crucial clue of finding my brother on August 21, 34 days after my brother went missing when a stranger from Kadamtali called my second brother Jwel, saying he had seen Sohel’s missing notice online and informed us about a picture he had come across at DMCH,” Nabil recalled.

The stranger said he saw the photo of an unidentified body labeled “Unidentified (28), GD-1359” when he went to find his brother too, who also went missing during the July uprising.

“My brother Jwel immediately rushed to the DMCH, where he found the picture. It confirmed what we dreaded most—Sohel had been buried as an unclaimed person by Anjuman Mufidul Islam,” Nabil said with a heavy heart.

He said the next day they went to the Anjuman Mufidul Islam and talked to its Dafon Sheba (burial service) officer Quamrul Islam, who confirmed Sohel was buried at Rayerbazar Intellectual Graveyard on July 24.

“Though the officer could not give any information regarding my brother when we met him earlier, he, however, admitted the body had been handed over by Shahbagh Police Station on July 23. But shockingly, he couldn’t confirm the exact grave of my brother,” Nabil said with a heart weighed down by grief.

He added: “There was no registry of graves, just a vague indication of where my brother was buried among other unidentified bodies”.

As they were continuing their efforts to unearth exactly what happened to his brother and the place and time of his death, Nabil said they visited Shahbagh Police Station and spoke to the concerned official, who revealed haunting details.

According to the inquest report, Sohel was shot dead and assaulted physically before his death. His body, riddled with rubber bullets, was taken to DMCH around 11:45 pm on July 18 by some students from the Kajla area of Jatrabari. The body remained at the hospital morgue until July 23, when it was handed over for burial.

At that time, Sohel’s family received an unnamed death certificate from the hospital that deepened their sorrow. “Why was my brother’s body labeled “unclaimed” when he had a family desperate to find him? Why weren’t we informed sooner? Why couldn’t we give him a proper burial?” Nabil said these questions are still haunting them.

Noting that they even faced troubles to get the death certificate with his brother’s proper identity, Nabil said, “We finally obtained the death certificate with the help of Adviser for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and Information and Broadcasting Md Nahid Islam”.

According to media reports and eyewitnesses, the then “fascist government” launched a massive crackdown on peaceful demonstrators under the banner “Anti-Discrimination Student Movement” suspending internet services across the country on July 18.

On that day, many people were reportedly killed “in gunfire carried out by both law enforcement agency members and supporters of ruling Awami League”. It was also alleged that the government even instructed the health care facilities not to give treatment to the bullet injured people while many bodies were allegedly disappeared.

Describing their desperate efforts to identify the grave of Sohel, Nabil said, “The pain of not knowing my brother’s grave is unbearable. We are still running here and there with a hope of identifying at least the grave where my brother is lying as we are still confused about whether my brother was actually buried or not”.

“If we had gone to DMCH the night he disappeared, could we have found my brother alive? Could we have claimed his body and ensured a dignified burial?” he said these regrettable questions consumed them and made a suffocating environment for them.

“Even now, I hear my brother’s voice whenever I try to close my eyes, asking me “Didn’t you know what happened to me?” My sleepless nights, plagued by his memory, have become my reality,” Nabil said, adding, even sleeping pills offer no escape to him.

“As our family clings to a sliver of hope of knowing the exact grave of my brother, we appealed to the authorities concerned to help us identify my brother’s grave. But five months later, the government has yet to take any visible step,” he said in an emotion choked voice.

“My brother wasn’t just a statistic—he was a son, a sibling, a person who mattered. The then fascist government buried him as an unclaimed body, denying us the right to have the last glimpse of him and bury him in a dignified manner,” Nabil said with a heavy heart.

Expressing desperate willingness to know at least the exact grave of Sohel, his family members said it would lessen their pain a little bit.

“Is it too much to ask? Don’t we deserve to know where our brother was buried?” Nabil questioned.

Sohel’s family demands a fair trial to hold the perpetrators for the loss of Sohel and countless others. “I want justice for killing my son,” said the wailing mother of Sohel.

While visiting the residential area of Mohammadbag, Sohel’s neighbors showered him in praise, saying he was a good hearted person. He was vocal against any injustices and used to help people if he saw anyone in trouble.

Besides, a banner was seen hanging overhead on the residential street with a plea of identifying the grave of Sohel. The neighbors of Sohel hung the banner.