Anwar Hossain, 55, has had an unbearable life since 2020, when he lost his 18-year-old daughter to Covid 19.
Life lost its meaning for him in 2024 when his elder son, Md Jonayed, 27, was shot at near Mirpur Girls鈥� Ideal College in Dhaka on August 4.
Two bullets hit Jonayed, an auto-rickshaw driver, about 2:30pm during the mass uprising that spawned off the student protests seeking reforms in civil service job reservations.
He died in National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital at 1:20am on August 5.
Jonayed鈥檚 wife, Hafsa Akter said that she is now left with her daughter, Mariyan, who is three years and a half old.
The deaths left Anwar, who lives in his hometown of Raipura in Narsingdi, distraught. He is now worried about the safety of his remaining children.
He took his two other children, and Junayed wife and her daughter to live with him in the village, far from dangers that might lurk in Dhaka.
The death of Jonayed, who held the financial helm of the family as the eldest child, has left them struggling.
The government has enlisted Jonayed as a victim of the uprising. The July Martyrs鈥� Memorial Foundation also invited the family to receive a Tk 500,000 grant in Dhaka.
The family, unfortunately, did not get the money. They all named Jonayed鈥檚 daughter as the nominee, but the foundation did not agree, noting that a child cannot be a nominee.
When the family suggested Jonayed鈥檚 wife as the nominee, 鈥榯he foundation rejected that too, saying that Hafsa may re-marry. It wouldn鈥檛 be wise to make her the nominee,鈥� Hafsa said.
Hafsa now wants her father-in-law, who has heart problems, to be the nominee. 鈥楬e will never deprive us,鈥� she said.
However, the family is uncertain whether they will receive the grant.
Jonayed was buried in his hometown without a post-mortem examination. The death certificate says that he died from an 鈥榓ccidental head injury.鈥�
鈥榃e wanted to avoid the hassle of a police case or post-mortem examination. The hospital authorities did not list gunshot as the cause,鈥� said Jonayed鈥檚 brother, Md Ariful Hossain.
The uprising finally toppled the Awami League government on August 5.
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.