BHOLA, March 16, 2025 (BSS) – Jamal Uddin (35) had promised his widow mother Shahida Begum that he would live with his mother as long as he lives. But the fate didn’t favour him since he was killed in a stampede in front of Mohammadpur Town Hall in the capital Dhaka on July 19 during the anti-discrimination student movement.

According to eyewitnesses, Jamal was seriously injured in the stampede during a clash between police and anti-discrimination student movement around 12 noon. He, however, breathed his last in the evening on the same day while undergoing treatment at a city hospital there.

Jamal, the eldest son of late Abul Kalam of Borhanuddin Upazila in the district, used to work as a chef for various events in Dhaka. Two months before his death, Jamal started driving an auto-rickshaw with his younger brother Liton as he had no remarkable work as a cook.

Jamal had a daughter. But his wife left him taking his daughter with her years back and married another person. After that, despite many attempts, his mother Shahida could not get Jamal married again.

Jamal’s death devastated his mother, who endured indescribable anguish to raise her children after her husband’s death.  
  
Shahida Begum along with her three young sons and a daughter migrated to Dhaka in search of happiness from Deula village in Borhanuddin Upazila 25 years back after her husband Abu Kalam died in a road accident.

She worked hard as a domestic help in others’ houses in the city’s Mohammadpur area to raise her three sons and a daughter. Shahida had been living in a rented house in the capital Dhaka’s Chand Udyan area in Mohammadpur.

Among her children, she married off her only daughter Rina Begum while her second son is a congenital epileptic, who cannot work. For the past 5 to7 years, their family has been running well with the income of their elder son Jamal Uddin and youngest son Liton.

“My eldest son Jamal Uddin was only 10 years old when my husband died in a road crash 25 years back. When I went to work at others’ houses in Dhaka, Jamal looked after his younger two brothers and one sister,” Jamal’s grief stricken mother recalled her agony to raise her children.

“Ma, the price of everything in Dhaka including house rent has increased. We can't live here anymore. We will go to the village and fix up our old house and live there. I will take a loan from an NGO and buy two rickshaws for us- two brothers,” Shahida quoted her martyred son as he told her the night before he embraced martyrdom.

Shahida agreed to her son. But the next day left them forever, leaving his wish unfulfilled.

Jamal’s mother recalled that he left home around 10 am for puling rickshaw after having breakfast. Around 12 noon, she was informed that Jamal had been injured in a clash in front of Mohammadpur Town Hall. Some people took him to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

But by the time family members reached the hospital, Jamal was not able to talk to them. As Jamal's condition was not improving, his mother wanted to take him to their rented house in Mohammadpur area in Dhaka. However, soon after making Jamal onboard an ambulance, he breathed his last.

Jamal’s family wanted to bury him at their village graveyard. But due to the unrest situation across the country, the ambulance driver did not agree to come to their village home. Therefore, Jamal was laid to his eternal rest at Rayer Bazar Martyred Intellectuals' Graveyard in Mohammadpur.

Shahida Begum is still now traumatized since her son’s death.

“After my husband's death, I suffered a lot. I raised my children amid indescribable anguish. Now it was time for my good times to return. My children are starting to earn. But now, my eldest son has left me, plunging me into a sea of sorrow. I have no more happiness,” Shahida burst into tears.

Demanding justice over son’s death, she said, “I want to see the people responsible for my son's death face exemplary punishment during my lifetime”.

Shahida, however, said they didn’t get any government or non government assistance since her son’s death.