The 12-year-old boy injured in an arson attack at the Gazipur intersection during the countrywide 60-hour shutdown on Monday died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Thursday.
Monir Hossain, a student of Class V at Boro Kanchanpur Primary School in Gazipur, succumbed to his burn injuries around 4:45pm, said Partha Sharothi Das, doctor at the Burn and Plastic Surgery unit of DMCH.
The doctor said Monir was admitted to the hospital burns to 95% of his body, adding: “We have tried our best but the boy could not hold on to life.”
Monir lived with his mother Monoara Begum and his younger brother at their village home in Borokanchanpur.
He had never visited the capital but requested that his father take him to the city for a visit. His father Ramzan Ali, a driver of covered van, brought Monir to Dhaka on Sunday morning.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ramzan said he and his son were going back to Gazipur with some goods on Monday morning. After reaching Gazipur, he unloaded the truck and found Monir to be sleeping.
“Later, I went over to the main road to have a glimpse of it to see if I could start for Gazipur but within five minutes I found my truck on fire with my son inside it,” said Ramzan with tears in his eyes. He then took him to hospital with the help of police.
On Wednesday night between 8.00pm and 9.00pm, Monir asked him to take him back to his mother and after seven hours pleading, he went to the world of no return, Ramzan said, crying uncontrollably as he was talking.
On hearing the news, his mother came to the hospital on Tuesday but after she saw his condition she drifted in and out of consciousness. For that reason, Ramzan sent her back to the village.
“My son came with me on the seat next to me but this time he will go lying dead in the back of my truck. You do not know how painful it is,” said Ramzan before bursting into tears and flopping down on the floor of the hospital.
Case filed against hundred Jamaat-BNP men. Police on Tuesday filed a case with Joydebpur Police Station in relation to the setting on fire of the covered van with school student Monir Hossain inside.
SM Kamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Joydebpur Police Station, told the Dhaka Tribune that Hafizur Rahman, sub-inspector of the police station, filed the case against 54 identified and 30 unidentified people.
According to the case history, the accused are Jamaat Gazipur district Ameer Abul Hashem Khan, General Secretary SM Sanaullah, Joint General Secretary Jamal Uddin, Organising Secretary Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Jamaat Gazipur city Ameer Khairul Hasan, BNP leader Nazim Uddin, Gazipur city corporation Ward 22 counsellor Tanbir Ahmed and 54 others, including 30 unidentified activists of BNP and Jamaat.
Asked if any arrests had been made Hafizur said they were investigating the incident.
However, at the time of filing this report on Thursday evening, no one had been arrested in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, former bureaucrat Akbar Ali Khan said usually common people fall victim to political violence, not the people from well-off and affluent families as they can foresee what might befall them and how to be safe.
“Especially those who live from hand to mouth become the worst sufferer because they have to come out of their houses during hartals for bread and butter,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
