Minarul- Photo : Collected

By Omar Farooque

RAJSHAHI, March 19, 2025 (BSS) - Minarul, a private employee, sacrificed his life in the July-August mass uprising in Narayanganj on July 20, leaving behind an unborn child he never got to see. 

Minarul was the youngest of four children-three sons and a daughter-born to the late Md Enamul Haque and Mosammat Dolly Begum from the Golzarbagh area under Kashiadanga police station in Rajshahi city.

Minarul left his hometown Rajshahi in search of a better livelihood and settled in Siddhirganj, Narayanganj working at the Bengal Company there.

After years of struggle and medical treatment, Minarul's wife, Shampa Begum, was finally blessed with pregnancy after eight years of marriage.

When the child was seven months in the womb, Minarul was martyred in a hail of indiscriminate gunfire by the Chhatra League, Jubo League, and police on the street.

Minarul's wife Shampa Begum told BSS in tearful eyes that on July 20, 2024, during the movement, Minarul was shot in Siddhirganj, Narayanganj, as the Chhatra League, Jubo League, and police fired indiscriminately at students and protesters nationwide.

Recalling that fateful day, bereaved Shampa Begum said that her beloved husband laid on the road for a few hours after being shot and no one came to help him.

After a long while, some people rescued him and took him to the hospital. Tearfully, Shampa said that, unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries on the way due to severe bleeding.

Minarul's grief-stricken mother Dolly Begum cannot forget her son's memories. 

She still thinks that maybe her son will come one day and call her by the word 'Mother'.

But the innocent Minarul's mother doesn't understand that his son will never return and talk to anyone like past times. 

She is now become perplexed with heavy grief following the demise of her beloved son.

Minarul was overjoyed at the news of the arrival of the child. At that time, Minarul's wife Shampa lived with her husband in a rented house in Siddhirganj.

After becoming pregnant, Shampa became worried as no one is available here to take care of her in Siddhirganj.

So when the child was 3 months old, she returned from her husband's rented house to Goljarbagh under Kashiadanga police station in Rajshahi.

Shampa Begum said in a tearful voice, "I never imagined that he would leave us like this way. My son Saifan lost his father when he was 7 months old in my womb."

"My son was born on September 23, 2024, via a cesarean section (C-section) at a private hospital in Rajshahi city," she said.

Shampa Begum lamented, "My innocent child was born as an orphan. My son is constantly being deprived of his father's affection. He will never get his father's affection."

"I can't think of what to do with my child in the future. Now the fast of Ramadan is going on. After the fast, everyone will rejoice on Eid, but what will we do? It is not possible to explain how our days are spent," she burst into tears.

Shampa Begum demanded exemplary punishment of those who killed her innocent husband without any reason. 

My husband's soul will find peace if his killers are brought to justice, she said.