Md Mamun, a security guard, was shot at in the chest on a road near his workplace in Narayanganj at 4:00am on July 22 during the curfew imposed to quell student protests seeking reforms in civil service job reservations.
His wife, Jakia, quoting witnesses, said on October 27 that the police had taken the wounded Mamun to the Fatullah police station.
Jakia and their two children, however, could only see the body on August 6 despite numerous visits to the police station and the Narayanganj district jail.
The elder of the children, Jakariya, is a Class VIII student and the younger,聽 Jidni, is four years old.
鈥楾he police framed him in a case filed over an act of sabotage. When I tried to meet him, I was told that it wasn鈥檛 possible. I even offered them money,鈥� Jakia said, noting that Mamun had not been into politics or was involved in the protests.
The student protests, which began on July 1, peaked into a mass uprising later that month, finally toppling the Awami League government on August 5.
Jakia and her children went to the Narayanganj district jail in the morning on August 6, hoping to see Mamun, only to be told that the police had taken the wounded prisoners to Narayanganj General (Victoria) Hospital.
鈥業 could see him lying dead on the hospital veranda,鈥� Jakia, lamented.
Jakia received the body in the evening, after all the formalities, without a post-mortem examination. He was buried in their village, Pankhali, at Galachipa in Patuakhali the next day.
The death certificate that the hospital issued mentions 鈥榮troke鈥� as the cause of the death. There is no mention of bullet injury. His name has, however, been included in the preliminary list that the interim government has prepared of people having died in the protests and uprising.
The death of Mamun, 41 years old, was so shocking to his mother, Helena Begum, that she suffered a stroke. He was her only son.
Jakia, 34 years old, her children and mother-in-law have no one to look after them. Mamun was the sole breadwinner of the family.
鈥業 cannot afford the expenses. So, I will move to live my in-laws鈥� in Patuakhali after the year-final exams of my son,鈥� said Jakia, who lives at Fatullah Pagla Taltola in Narayanganj.
The family has no land or property other than the homestead in the village.
鈥業 have plans to run a poultry farm there. I will seek help from my siblings,鈥� she said.
The family received Tk 200,000 from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami after Mamun鈥檚 death.
She now wants her son to complete his secondary schooling so that he can find a job and support the family.
The Directorate General of Health Services on September 24 said that after a preliminary investigation, it had listed 708 people having died in the protests and uprising.