Md Mahmud Hossain and Salma Zakera sent their only son, Sabid Hossain, to Dhaka when he was a student of Class III, hoping for a good education.
鈥楬e was a mirthful child. We wanted him to become an engineer,鈥� said Mahmud, who lives with his wife and elder daughter in Gopalganj, on November 6.
But before the dream could come true, the 15-year-old Sabid, a Class X student at Renaissance Madhyamik Bidyalay, had been shot near Uttara East police station on August 5 during a mass uprising that student protests seeking reforms in civil service job reservations spawned off.
The protests spanned July, finally flaring up into the uprising that toppled the Awami League government that day.
Sabid鈥檚 body was taken to Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital. An unnamed person called Mahmud from Sabid鈥檚 mobile about 5:00pm to tell the family of the death.
鈥業 don鈥檛 know when he was shot in the head. I asked him not to go out that morning. He went out with his friends to join the march to Dhaka,鈥� his farmer father said.
Sabid鈥檚 cousin, Shahriar Kabir, took the body to Degreekandi in Gopalganj, where he was buried the next morning.
Sabid, who loved playing football and badminton, was staying at his aunt鈥檚 at Tongi in Gazipur.
鈥榃e thought he would get a good education in Dhaka. He had outstanding results in Class V. He scored more than 95 marks,鈥� his father said.
The family is now struggling to get over the shock. Salma, a primary schoolteacher, now spends more time with her students and colleagues as she cannot live at home alone.
Shahriar filed a murder case on September 1 against 75 people.
The family received more than Tk 200,000 from various organisations, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, after Sabid鈥檚 death.
The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 said that its preliminary investigation had listed 708 people having died in the protests and uprising.
