Awami League activists attempted thrice to take Sakib Anjum鈥檚 body away after he had died of excessive bleeding following a one-hour struggle without any treatment during the student-led mass uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.
But the activists could not take his body away due to the resistance of a house owner who gave shelter to bullet-hit Shakib on August 5 that ultimately marked an end to the autocratic regime of the Awami League.
Sakib Anjum, a computer science and engineering聽 department student of Varendra University, was hit by a bullet below his shoulder after Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League activists opened fire on the protesting students in Rajshahi on the day.
Any Khatun, a second-year student of Rajshahi University鈥檚 history department who was with Sakib said that after AL, JL, and BCL activists opened fire on them in front of Shah Makhdum College at about 12:30pm, they took shelter in a small tin-shed house near the college.
鈥榃hen we were entering the house hurriedly, Sakib, whom I did not know, first bumped into one of us and fell down onto the ground,鈥� she said.
As the BCL activists also entered the house following the blood trail, all of them but Sakib hid themselves in two rooms of the house, Any continued.
鈥楢fter finding Sakib on the floor, the activists started beating him with sticks and iron pipes,鈥� she said, adding that they could do nothing but to witness the torture.
At one stage, amid repeated requests from the house owner, the BCL activists went outside of the house.
Any said that Sakib asked her to take him to hospital but they were not in a position to take him outside of the house as the BCL activists were still waiting in front of the house.
鈥楢s Sakib鈥檚 condition started deteriorating and his speech became slurred and disjointed, I asked him to contact his mother using my phone. But, Sakib refused to contact stating that his mother was ill and he did not want to inform her anything about his physical condition,鈥� Any said.
When the information that a protester died in the house was spread in the neighbouring houses, AL men came to the house thrice to take the body away. 鈥楤ut the son of the house owner did not allow them to take away the body,鈥� she added.
The house owner, who did not want his name published in the media, said, 鈥楢s my son resisted the AL activists from taking away his body, the latter even threatened to shoot my son,鈥� he added.
Sakib鈥檚 mother Rokeya Khatun said that Sakib, who got married six years ago, was the most brilliant among three brothers and had been planning to get a scholarship to study abroad.
