Rubel Islam- Photo: BSS

NILPHAMARI, April 27, 2025 (BSS) – Even after eight months, martyred Rubel Islam’s (19) mother could not hold back her tears as she recalls about her son Rubel, who was shot on August 5, 2024 when he joined the ‘March to Dhaka Programme’ in Dhaka that ended the nearly 16-year autocratic rule.

His mother, Mosammat Mini Khatun, is still confined with the shock of her martyred son. Family of martyred Rubel is struggling to maintain daily expenses as they largely depended on his earning.
    
Rubel was a very caring son and he promised his parents of providing a good future saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle my brother’s education and build a house. And we will live happily.”

These dreams gave strength to his rickshaw-puller father, Md Rafiqul Islam (50), and his mother, Mini Khatun. As such, the family had moved to the capital leaving behind their Dhobadanga Arajipara village in Nilphamari Sadar upazila here to support Rubel’s ambitions.

After coming to Dhaka, Rubel had taken a job in a garment factory while his father was pulling a rickshaw here. He enrolled his younger brother, Roni Islam, in sixth grade at a madrasah.  The family lived together in Geneva Camp in the capital’s Mohammadpur area.

Rubel was the third among their five siblings. He studied up to class seven, while his three sisters have been married.

Rubel and his father wanted to materialize their dreams with their joint effort, but all those dreams were shattered by a bullet on August 5 in 2024 when he joined the anti-discrimination student movement to overthrow the dictatorship.

Rubel joined the ‘March to Dhaka Programme’ in front of Adabor Police Station around 11am. He was in the forefront of the procession. However, within a moment, a bullet hit him. His co-fighters immediately took Rubel to a private hospital in Shyamoli in Dhaka, where he breathed his last on August 7 while undergoing treatment.

Recalling her last conversation with her son Rubel on the fatal day, grief stricken Mini Khatun burst into tears.

“When my son was leaving the home, he told me, ‘Amma, my younger brother’s tuition fees of three months are due. His madrasah teacher called and asked me to manage the tuition fees. We need to pay the due fees.’ But my son never came back,” she wailed.

Rubel’s father, Rafiqul Islam, said Rubel used to work in the night shift and returned home in the morning. As Rubel was getting late in returning home on August 5, his father called him (Rubel) around 9 am to inquire about his whereabouts.

“Abba, I’ll be home in a while,” Rubel had told his father over the phone. Rubel rightly returned home shortly after his conversation with his father over the phone. But soon after he left the home and joined the movement around 11 am.

“By 3.30 pm, I came to know that my son had been shot in front of Adabor Police Station. But when I reached the hospital, Rubel was already in surgery,” Rubel’s grieving father recalled.

Unfortunately, Rubel breathed his last around 9:30 am on August 7 while undergoing treatment at the hospital, he said, adding, later, they brought Rubel’s body to their village home here and buried him that night in the family graveyard.

After Rubel’s death, his family returned to the village. Without any land of their own, they now live in a house erecting on someone else’s land.

About financial aid they received since Rubel’s death, Rafiqul said they have so far received Taka 25,000 during carrying the body to their village, Taka 30,000 from the district administration, Taka 1 lakh from the As-Sunnah Foundation, Taka 1.5 lakh from Jamaat-e-Islami and Taka 5 lakh from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation.

General Secretary of BNP’s Gorgram Union unit Motiur Rahman said they are in constant contact with Rubel’s family.

“Based on our recommendation, Rubel’s father received a job from the chairman of Nilsagar Group, Engineer Ahsan Habib Lelin. We are working to lessen their sufferings,” he said.

Gorgram Union Parishad’s former Chairman Reyazul Islam said, “This (Rubel’s) family is completely helpless. Rubel’s untimely death made their situation worse. We all should come forward to fill this void.”