Md Rashid- Photo: Collected

By Syed Altefat Hossain  

DHAKA, Feb 18, 2025 (BSS) – Family members of martyred Md Rashid, a 40-year-old scrap trader, is still reel under extreme shock as they could not accept absence of their beloved one.       
Rashid was “shot dead” during the victory procession in the city’s Uttara area following the fall of nearly 16-year fascist regime on August 5 in 2024 in face of the student-people uprising.

According to a medical report, a bullet hit the top of his head, crushing the skull.
He was running a scrap shop at Tongi Station Road area just opposite to the Bishwa Ijtema ground in Gazipur and living with his family, including his wife Salma (35), son Saiful Islam Salman (17) and daughter Sabiha (8), at a rented house there.

However, his father Md Ismail Hossain (75), mother Rashida Begum (65), younger brother Md Shahid (38) and an unmarried sister Lucky (30) are living at Shyampur area of Jatrabari in the city.

Rashid’s wife Salma recalled the fateful day with a heavy heart. “My husband left the house to go to the shop around 8am on August 5. But later we came to know that he joined the victory procession around 3pm after Sheikh Hasina fled the country,” she said in a sobbing tone.

His son Salman recalled that he joined the victory procession with his father at the Tongi Station Road area in the afternoon on that day.

“When we reached under the flyover there, we saw a motorcyclist injured in a road crash. Therefore, my father at first took the person to Tongi Medical and later he went to Uttara to help him reach his destination,” Salman shared, saying at that time he returned home.

He, however, recounted his memories with heavy grief that after Magrib prayers, they came to know about the devastating news that his father was hit by a bullet in front of Uttara 1 no sector mosque while he was returning home.

Rashid’s father Ismail Hossain recalled that one of his distant relatives called him in the late afternoon on that day, saying that Rashid was taken to National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in the city’s Agargaon area with a bullet injury.

“Some unidentified persons took my son to the hospital in Agargaon around 5pm while doctors gave very good treatment,” Rashid’s grieving father said, adding, despite receiving medical care, Rashid succumbed to his injuries around 6.30 pm, just 90 minutes after admission.

Grieving Ismail said he received his son’s body by midnight from the hospital and took to his Shyampur residence. Later, they laid Rashid to his eternal rest at Jurain graveyard after Zohr prayers on August 6.

The loss of Rashid left his family in despair. Ismail, who once ran a small shoe business, had invested his savings in Rashid’s scrap trading. Now, with no stable income, he cannot even afford his essential medicines.

“My elder son, Rashid, used to send me Taka 15,000 to 20,000 per month, which was the backbone of my family here (at Shyampur). But, since his death, we are going through a tough time. Now I cannot buy my essential medicines,” Ismail said with a heavy heart.

He said his younger son, Md Shahid, earns about Taka 11,000 per month, which barely covers their family expenses while one of his two daughters still remains unmarried.

Ismail said they migrated to the capital city when he was very little and started living in the Shyampur area after the River Meghna eroded their ancestral home at Doulatkhan Upazila in Bhola. He is now living constructing a small one-storey building on a piece of land, which his wife got from her father in the same area.

Rashid’s wife, who is living in Tongi Station Road area with her two children, said they are now facing the harsh reality of meeting her family needs as her husband had a loan of Taka 6 to 7 lakh.

“Since my husband’s death, we cannot even run the shop properly. My teenage son is now operating the shop. Therefore, after paying the shop rent, we can only save about Taka 15,000 per month, which is not enough to cover our expenses,” Salma said.

She is even struggling to meet the education cost of her children as her son Salman will appear for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam this year and daughter Sabiha is second grader at a local Madrasah.

Mentioning that she got Taka 5 lakh from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation, she said, “I paid some amount of the loan with the Taka 5 lakh while some of the money I invested in the business”.

Rashid’s son Salman is now shouldering responsibilities far beyond his age. An SSC examinee of 2025, he is juggling his studies while running his father’s scrap shop.

“We are now going through a financial hardship. I have been forced to take the responsibility of my family. Along with preparing myself for SSC exams, I am running my father’s shop,” Salman said.

However, the family demands capital punishment for those responsible for killing Rashid.