The grieving mother of class X student Shahriar Khan Anas, who was among the six protesters shot dead during the July 2024 mass uprising in the capital’s Chankharpool area, on Sunday demanded the death penalty for those she held responsible for the killing of her son.
Testifying as the ninth prosecution witness in the case of crimes against humanity against eight police officials in the International Crimes Tribunal-1, 17-year-old Anas’s mother Sanjida Khan Dipti gave a heart-wrenching testimony on what she knew about the killing of her son.
The accused in the case include former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman, along with other senior and field-level officers.
The mother said that she learnt from news reports that the four top accused –former DMP chief Habibur, joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty, and assistant commissioner Shah Alam directly oversaw the police action in Chankharpool on August 5, 2024.
She further alleged that subordinate officers opened fire on the protesters under orders from their superiors.
Of them, Inspector Arshad Hossain and suspended APBn constables Sujan Hossain, Imaz Hossain Imon, and Nasirul Islam are currently in custody and were present in the tribunal.
Sanjida accused deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and ex-inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun of ordering the crackdown on protesters.
‘I want all of them to be hanged,’ she said in a trembling voice. ‘I want death for death. They killed my son, my firstborn, for protesting.’
She told the tribunal that her son’s blood-soaked body was brought home from Sir Salimulah Medical College Hospital in an auto-rickshaw, lying on her lap, on August 5, 2024.
‘There was no body wash. He was buried with his dress still soaked in blood,’ she cried. ‘We could not even give him his final bath,’ she said.
Before his burial, local people carried Anas’s body in a procession demanding justice, gathering at the Dhopkhola playground to protest against the brutal killings of innocent students.
The tribunal adjourned the hearing for recording testimony of another prosecution witness until today.Â
Earlier Anas’s father Shahriar Khan Polash testified before the tribunal, stating that his son was killed on August 5, 2024 morning, hours before the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina regime amid a student-led mass uprising.
‘Mother, I am going to the procession. You will be proud if I cannot return,’ wrote Anas, before joining the Students Against Discrimination’s pre-declared protest for ‘March to Dhaka’ at the Central Shahid Minar in the capital. He never came back.
