By Syed Altefat Hossain

DHAKA, Feb 6, 2025 (BSS) – Md Nayem, a 17-year-old 12th grader of Shanarpar Rowshan Ara Degree College, had a dream of becoming judge but a bullet snatched away his life during the anti-discrimination student movement.
    
He was fatally shot dead on July 19 last year when he joined the anti-discrimination student movement in the Kutubkhali area of Jatrabari in the city.

Nayem embraced martyrdom at a time when members of law enforcement agencies launched a massive crackdown on the student movement that eventually had turned into a student-people uprising by that time.
   
A bullet that penetrated the left side of his chest, just above his heart, exposed his family to a state of total wilderness both emotionally and financially as his father Md Kamrul Islam, a garment employee, could not join his job since his death due to mental trauma.

“Apart from his excellence in badminton, cricket, and football, my son dreamed of becoming a judge, inspired by the lawyers among our relatives,” Nayem’s grief stricken father Md Kamrul Islam (58) shared.

He recalled that Nayem often reassured him, saying, “Abbu, you will have no pain when I grow older.

 I will make you happy.”

Kamrul could not hold his tears while sharing the harrowing account of the fatal incident at his rented house in the Kutubkhali area of the Jatrabari recently.

Nayem was youngest among two sons of Kamrul and Mahmuda Perveen (45), a housewife, while their elder son, Md Noman, is a honors second year student at Kabi Nazrul Government College in the city.

“On the morning of July 19, I was bedridden with fever and severe headaches. However, before the Azan (call) for Zumah prayers, I had showered to join the Friday prayers at the mosque. But lastly I could not go to the mosque as my physical condition deteriorated,” Nayem’s grieving father recalled.
 
Kamrul, however, said Nayem joined the Friday prayers on that day and after returning home from the mosque, Nayem had lunch and left the house without informing them. Soon after, Nayem's mother asked Kamrul about their son Nayem. But Kamrul replied he knew nothing about Nayem.

Finally, around 4pm, seeing the late of Nayem’s return his mother asked his father Kamrul to search for their son as “at that time members of law enforcement agencies were firing at the protesters indiscriminately in the Jatrabari areas”.

“But I replied that I was too unwell to go out,” Kamrul recalled, saying that however, Nayem’s mother’s persistence finally compelled him to step outside with the help of their house owner.

Kamrul, however, recounted that when he went in front of Kutubkhali High School alongside the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, he observed the streets were eerily silent, a stark contrast to reports of unrest earlier that day.

He could not know that it had become a scene of bloodshed just hours earlier while five people, including his son, had been shot there.

“When a person informed us about the incident of indiscriminate firing on the spot, it did not carry any significant message to me as I believed my son did not join the protest.

 But the reality was he used to join the movement secretly, which we didn’t know,” Kamrul said in a sobbing tone.

Being failed to find Nayem, he returned home and was taking rest. But Nayem’s mother was desperate about locating her son’s whereabouts.

 Therefore, she again asked Kamrul to search for their son.
“But I again refused, saying my physical condition was not good,” Kamrul recounted, saying finally he again stepped out leaning on the shoulders of his wife and elder, Md Noman, to search for Nayem.

“After searching for hours in the surrounding areas, we went to the Jatrabari Police Station, ignoring the risks of getting caught in the indiscriminate firing. On the way to the police station, a RAB member scolded us saying why we allowed him (Nayem) to go to the movement,” Nayem’s grieving father shared.

However, when they went nearer to the gate of the police station, three to four policemen obstructed them to enter the station, saying they did not arrest any person on that day.

Sharing their desperate search at all corners of the Jatrabari and Demra areas till 2.30am defying curfew imposed from 12midnight on that night, Kamrul said, they searched for Nayem at each and every hospital in the areas suspecting that he might have been admitted there with injuries.

After the hectic search, they returned home after 2.30am and passed rest of the night sleepless through offering prayers for Nayem, he recalled and said in the early hours of July 20, he offered Fazar prayers and went to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) along with his elder son.

After reaching the hospital, Kamrul said they were searching for Nayem the injured people at every corner of the DMCH and National Burn Institute, including intensive care units of the both facilities.

“We never thought that Nayem might have been killed. Rather we thought he would have been injured or arrested. Therefore, we were searching for him among the injured people,” he added.

He recalled that at that time a hospital staff informed him that about 1000-1500 injured people were admitted in the DMCH on July 19.

Kamrul, however, recounted that after failing to find Nayem among the injured people, they started searching him at morgues.

“I saw 80-90 bodies in an abandoned state on the floors of two morgues at the Dhaka Medical, but could not find Nayem.

 The morgues were flooded with blood shedding from the bodies. Thus I was again convinced to believe that my son was alive as he was not among the bodies,” he said.

By that time, he recalled, his wife and brother, and Nayem’s cousin arrived at the hospital while they started searching for Nayem in different hospitals being divided into parts.

“When we were desperately searching, our house owner called me, saying Nayem was found while the message ignited a fragile hope that my son might still then alive. But his next words were ‘Nayem had been killed’,” Kamrul lamented.

He recalled that their house owner said a boy named Rakib, who had tried to save Nayem, revealed that Nayem was hit by a bullet around 3pm.

 And when Rakib and some others were taking Nayem to a nearby lab going through in front of their house, he had pointed to their house, but none could understand it.

Later, Rakib alone took Nayem to the DMCH and registered him under his own name, unaware of Nayem’s identity.

“Therefore, I went to the morgue again and started searching. After a desperate search, I found Nayem at a freeze (mortuary). However, seeing the lifeless body of my son, my wife and fainted,” Kamrul wailed.

He said at that time there was a police officer of Jatrabari Police Station, who cleared the way for the postmortem. “We received the body around 6pm following the medical protocol,” Kamrul recounted.

Later, they took the body to their village home in Nalchity Upazila of Jhalakathi district and laid Nayem to his eternal rest at their family graveyard in the morning of July 21.

According to his family members, Nayem was more than just a bright student—he was a kind soul, a loving son, and a talented athlete.

Kamrul said they are now going through a financial crisis. “We are now living here only for our elder son who is an honors second year student at Kabi Nazrul College,” he added.

Recalling his memory with Nayem just a day before his demise, Kamrul said on July 18 Nayem came to me and had a happy time. “But I didn’t know it would be his last interaction with me,” he said, adding, they two brothers used to stay together and had a good intimacy.

Nayem’s mother, Mahmuda Perveen, is struggling to accept her son’s death. She recalled his cheerful demeanor on the morning of July 19, just hours before he left the house to join the movement.

“In the morning, my son joked with me and talked friendly. But I didn’t know that was the last day,” Perveen burst into tears.

She said every corner of their house is filled with Nayem’s memories, making it difficult for perveen to move freely.

“Whenever the doorbell rings, I think it’s my son. I still wait for him at 3pm, the time he used to return from college,” she tearfully shared.

Perveen was sobbing like a child showing the reading table of Nayem, where all his reading materials and other belongings, including his books, personal computer, a small sound box and table fan are kept.

The family demands justice for killing Nayem.

“I want capital punishment for those responsible for my son’s death, including Sheikh Hasina. I want those, who shot my son dead, should be riddled with bullets to feel the pain before being hanged,” Perveen demanded.