News Flash
PATUAKHALI, April 20, 2025 (BSS) – Md Bachchu (47) from Patuakhali was brutally shot dead on August 5, 2024 when he joined a victory procession in front of Adabor Police Station in the capital following the downfall of nearly 16-year autocracy.
He was the son of late Abdul Majid Hawlader and late Manik Baru of Sharikkhali village in Kalikapur Union in the Sadar Upazila of the district.
Talking to BSS, Bachchu’s grief stricken wife Laily Begum (35) recounted the tragic incident and tearfully said around 3pm on that day her husband wanted to have lunch, saying he would join the victory procession.
“At that time, the air of the whole Dhaka city was electrified with slogans after killer Hasina fled the country in face of the student-people uprising.
When I asked him not to join the procession, saying there could be gunfire, he replied, “No, there won’t be any firing today. Hasina has fled. The country is free now.”
Later, after having lunch, he left the house to join the victory procession,” she recalled.
Laily said around 6pm, one of Bachchu’s friends came to her and asked her to get ready quickly for going to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital as Bachchu was there with bullet injury.
“But by the time we reached the hospital, my husband was no more. His body was covered with a cloth. I was told that after being shot by the police, Bachchu was first taken to Popular Hospital,” Bachchu’s mourning wife recalled.
Laily said her husband didn’t get any treatment at Popular Hospital. Therefore, he was taken to Suhrawardy hospital, where he breathed his last.
“After being shot, my husband managed to unlock his phone and told a passerby just one thing: “Please call my friend Helal.” Those were my husband’s last words. Later, with the help of Helal Bhai, I went to the hospital and received my husband’s body,” she said in a sobbing tone.
Laily said later they brought Bachchu’s body to their village home here. Bachchu was laid to his eternal rest at their family graveyard.
She said her husband was a tailor by profession. They had been living in a rented house in Mirpur-1 in the capital city Dhaka.
Bachchu’s wife and his 14-year-old younger daughter Nirjana demanded justice for the murder.
“I want the killers of my father to be hanged. My father was our only resort. Now, it’s very hard for us to survive without him,” Bachchu’s 10th grader daughter.
Expressing concern over the delay of holding trial of Bachchu murder, her wife said, “The government has still not taken any steps to bring my husband’s killers to justice. I don’t understand why”.
Laily said she filed a murder case at Adabor Police Station in the capital, naming killer Hasina as the prime accused. “I want my husband’s killers to walk to the gallows soon,” she demanded.
About the financial hardship they are going through since Bachchu’s death, Nirjana urged the government to provide a government job for her elder sister, who has completed her bachelor’s degree. “This is my demand to the government as the daughter of a martyr,” she said.
Speaking about the financial assistance they got, Laily said, “Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami gave her Taka 2 lakh. Later, she also received Taka 5 lakh from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation. But it’s not enough”.
Noting that she was struggling to manage the livelihood with the money, she urged the government to launch an allowance for the families of the martyrs in the July Uprising.
Laily said she was forced to engage her only son in a job at a garment factory after her husband’s death.
“I have two daughters and a son. My son works in a garment factory. If his father were alive, I would never have let him work. But to survive, I had no option,” she said, adding, she is now anxious about her children’s future.
“I want the government to give a job to my elder daughter. Since we have no home, I earnestly request the government for arranging a house for solving our accommodation problem,” Laily said.
