Hridoy’s parents deprived of recognition, compensation
Police shot him at point-blank on the final day of the July uprising, then made his body disappear, stripping his elderly parents of the chance to bury their only son, secure timely justice, and receive the state compensation that could have lifted them from crushing poverty.Nearly two years later, the remains of 20-year-old Hridoy are still missing. As such, he has not been officially recognised as a July martyr.One of the uprising’s most horrific viral videos captured Hridoy’s final moments on August 5, 2024, in Gazipur’s Konabari.The footage shows a group of policemen repeatedly slapping the Class XI student of Tangail’s Hemnagar Degree College after detaining him.Moments later, another policeman steps forward, presses a shotgun against Hridoy at point-blank and fires.
Hridoy collapses as blood spreads across the road. Policemen then drag away his motionless body by the arms and legs. He has never been seen again.
For his parents, 60-year-old Rehena Akhter and 62-year-old Lal Miya, the grief remains as fresh as ever.I’ve cried so much over the past two years that no tears are left,” Rehena said. “My eyes have dried up, but the pain of losing my only son has never eased.”
On July 7, clutching her husband’s arm, Rehena walked through the corridors of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), seeking an update on the investigation.We do not need financial assistance,” she said through tears. “Before I close my eyes for the last time, I only want to see the people who took my son brought to justice. Only then will my soul find peace.”
For Lal Miya, the inability to perform his son’s final rites remains an unbearable torment.
“We have no grave to visit, no place where we can pray for our son,” he said. “If only I could have held him one last time and buried him with my own hands, my heart would have found some peace. That regret will stay with me until the day I die.”
Hridoy was the family’s sole breadwinner. He drove a battery-run auto-rickshaw in Konabari to finance his education and sent Tk 10,000-12,000 home every month after his father was forced to stop working because of severe urological complications.
Today, despite worsening health, Lal Miya has returned to the streets, driving the same auto-rickshaw his son once operated.
“We are living a miserable life,” he said. “I have no land to cultivate. I survive by driving the rickshaw I had given up because of my illness.”
Without official recognition as a martyr, Hridoy’s family cannot receive the Tk 30 lakh government compensation or the Tk 5 lakh assistance from the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation.
Seeking both his son’s remains and official recognition, Lal Miya applied to the Tangail deputy commissioner’s office on December 4, 2024.
Four days later, the DC office wrote to the Special Cell on the July Mass Uprising under the Health Services Division, saying neither Hridoy’s body nor his grave had been found and seeking further instructions.
The special cell was later merged into the Directorate of July Mass Uprising under the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs.
Md Anwarul Naser, director general of the directorate, said he had recently joined the office and would look into why Hridoy’s name had been left out of the gazette.He said 834 of the 843 gazetted martyrs’ families have so far received state compensation.
Lt Col (retd) Kamal Akbar, chief executive officer of the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation, said the foundation has provided assistance to the families of 832 martyrs but cannot extend support to Hridoy’s parents until the ministry officially includes his name in the gazette.
The investigation has also been prolonged because Hridoy’s body was never recovered.
A private car driver allegedly hired by police to dispose of the body told a magistrate that officers threw Hridoy’s remains into the Turag River from Kodda Bridge. Repeated searches — including a five-hour operation by Fire Service and Civil Defence divers nearly a year later — failed to recover the body.
“It took time to complete the investigation because we were trying to recover the body. Since it could not be found, we will complete the investigation soon,” an ICT investigation official, requesting anonymity, told The Daily Star.
Eight suspects, including former Konabari Police Station Officer-in-Charge KM Ashraf and Constable Akram, have been arrested so far.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam recently said the investigation into Hridoy’s killing would be completed soon.
