Tanoy Chandra Das, a Class XII student of Kuliarchar Government College in Kishoreganj, moved to Gazipur four months ago to work as an apprentice at a barber鈥檚 to pay for his studies and support the family.
But, his plans fell through. He was caught in a clash during student protests demanding reforms in civil service job reservations and was shot dead shortly after 5:00pm on July 20 in the sadar area of district.
The protests flared into a mass uprising towards the end of July, overthrowing the Awami League government on August 5.
鈥楬e was our only child and only hope鈥�, said Tanoy鈥檚 mother Sabita Rani Das, trying to hold tears but visibly failing, on October 4. Her niece Nitu Rani Das stepped in with details.
Nitu said that the family was in such a financial hardship that they could only afford to erect a one-room, tin-shed house at Bhatinagar of Astagram.
Rain pours in through the hole of the roof during the monsoon season. They do not have a proper kitchen or a bathroom.
As Tanoy, 18 years old, was eager to continue with his studies, his father Harikanta Das, a fisher who is 60 years old, took out Tk 30,000 in loan to spend on his studies. The family is yet to repay Tk 12,000 of that loan.
鈥楾anoy wanted to help the family and become financially independent. That was why he was learning how to cut hair鈥�, Nitu said.
Tanoy could earn Tk 3,000 in wage for July off his work at the barber鈥檚 in the Batbazar area of Gachha.
But, the family received his body that the Gachha police sent them, without a death certificate, around 3:00am on July 21.
The family has received Tk 100,000 from an Islamic organization, Nitu said. But no one from the government has visited the family.
The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 came up with a preliminary list of 708 having died in the protests and subsequent uprising.
The health affairs sub-committee of the Students against Discrimination on September 28 said that it had enlisted 1,581 people as having died in the movement.
