“My son does not fight with anyone, so why was he killed? What was his fault? From whom can I seek justice?"
Laila Begum, who lost her 16-year-old son Akash during the nationwide unrest on Sunday, was saying while grieving her son’s death.
The mourning mother said: "Due to a shortage of money, my son was unable to sit for this year’s SSC exam. After my husband suffered a stroke, he spent most of his time bedridden. My son went to help his father’s business. My son used to be beaten up when he sat with his van on the streets, but he never told me about his hardships. My son doesn't fight with anyone, so why was he killed?"
She claimed he was shot in three places, including both knees and the urinary tract, while he was buying breakfast on Chittagong Road in the Narayanganj area of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
Laila Begum cried out, saying: “The doctors had said to take him to Dhaka. But we could not take him anywhere as a countrywide curfew was imposed. His father kept carrying his body around in a van all day from this alley and that alley, but we could not get him admitted anywhere. My son died at 3:30am. Everything is over for me now. Who will now call me a mother.”
She further said: "After his death, out of fear, we took the body to Noakhali. We are poor people; we do not know what to do, so we quickly buried him."
Akash was the son of Akram Hossain from Sonaimuri thana in Noakhali district. Six months ago, Akash was in the Narayanganj Chittagong Road area to get money from his father for the SSC exam form fill-up fees.
Due to his father’s illness, Akash had to take over the business to support his family. Akash had two brothers and one sister, and he was the eldest among them. He was a student at a local comprehensive high school in Sonaimuri thana.