Sajib Sarkar, a lecturer at Brahmanbaria Medical College, shouldered all the responsibilities for his family as his father struggled with the limited income from a government job.
But his death left the family in grief and hardship. The police shot Sajib, in his thirties, in the chest at Azampur of Uttara in Dhaka in the evening on July 18 during the student protests that sought reforms in civil service job reservations.
His father, Halim Sarkar, a lower-rung employee of National Tubes Limited, on September 18 said that Sajib had been shot when he went to Uttara to pick up his younger brother Abdullah, 17 years old, a student of Ashraful Ulum Madrassah. They had plans to visit their home town of Narsingdi.
Halim took out a loan of a substantial amount to pay for Sajib鈥檚 medical education. After Sajib had received an MBBS degree from a private medical college in 2020, he began repaying the loan.
鈥楢ll our hopes have died in his death,鈥� Halim lamented. 鈥業 want justice for the murder of my son. I also want the state to recognise him as a martyr.鈥�
A friend of Sajib鈥檚 called his sister Swarna, who lives in a hostel at Uttara 10, that day to inform her that Sajib had been shot and taken to Uttara Adhunik Hospital.
Swarna and Abdullah later found Sajib lying dead in the hospital and took the body to their village home at Raipura in Narsingdi for burial.
Halim, who will retire in two years, said that her wife Jharna Begum had breathing problems, kidney complications and diabetes. He needs to spend Tk 1,000 a day on her treatment.
鈥業 couldn鈥檛 finish repaying the loan. I don鈥檛 know how I鈥檇 manage all the expenses,鈥� said Halim, who now has two sons and a daughter.
The government on August 28 said that about 1,000 people had died in student protests, which peaked into a mass uprising and toppled the Awami League government on August 5.
