“Shawan is the eldest of my four sons and a daughter. He got married early and took the helm of the family. Before leaving on Wednesday, he told me he is going for a stroll and will come back early. But my son did not return. They shot my son dead. My eight-month-old grandson had lost his father before he could even recognise him,”
Thus Lipi Akhter, the mother of Shawan who died on Thursday after being shot during the BNP-police clash in Munshiganj, expressed her grief.
Lipi Akhter was found crying haplessly sitting at a corner of her house in the Murma area of Mirkadim in Munshiganj district on Friday morning. Shawan’s wife Sadia Akhter was weeping inside one of their two dilapidated tin-roof houses. Shawan would eke out a living by pulling battery-run autorickshaw. He would take part in BNP programmes regularly as an activist of BNP’s youth wing Jubo Dal.
Shawan married Sadia in 2021. The couple has an eight-month-old named Sahad Bhuiyan. Alongside pulling a rickshaw, Shawan would do whatever work he could get. He would run the family with that money.
Sadia said she has been living in her father’s house since the birth of the son.
“Shawan went to our house last Monday and told me he would bring me here within a day or two. He said he would buy goods before we come. He told me he would work attentively in the next few,” Sadia said before breaking down in tears.
“Shawan did not bring us home rather we had to come. He will never come back,” Sadia said, demanding exemplary punishment for the death of her husband.
Shawan’s younger brother Sohan Bhiyan told Prothom Alo that his brother would run the family by rickshaw pulling with his father. He joined BNP’s rally on Wednesday. He became unconscious as a bullet shot by police hit his head. Shawan was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) at around 7 in the afternoon on Wednesday and put on life support. He succumbed to his injuries at around 9:00pm on Thursday.
Witnesses said BNP men from different upazilas of the district started gathering at the Muktarpur intersection to join a pre-scheduled programme protesting against the price hike of fuel and other essential commodities and the death of 3 BNP men in two districts. The BNP men moved to the old ferry ghat area as police obstructed them at the Muktarpur intersection. At one point, assistant police superintendent Minhazul Islam pulled down a banner of a procession, ensuing fierce clashes. At least 70 people including 10-15 policemen and 3 journalists were injured in the clashes.
