The family of an innocent bystander remains uncertain over how and when they will be compensated while the sides involved in the clashes that resulted in his death finally sit for talks.
It is still unclear which of the feuding groups mercilessly beat Nahid Hossain, an 18-year-old who had little connection with the New Market shops or Dhaka College.
Nahid, who had married just six months ago, worked for a courier service in the Bata Signal region. He had left school at the age of 10 to work and help his father, Mohammad Nadim Hossain, support the family.
The teenager was found critically injured on the side of the road in the New Market area following clashes between shopkeepers and Dhaka College students on Tuesday morning. He succumbed to his injuries at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) at 9:35pm the same day.
According to police, Nahid’s body had multiple injury marks, suggesting he was brutally beaten.
Nadim Hossain was seen waiting in the rain by the DMCH morgue with other family members to collect his son’s body yesterday morning. He was pleading with officials to complete the necessary procedures as quickly as possible so that his son might be laid to rest near their home in Kamrangirchar.
Nahid’s uncle Md Nurul Amin said: “We heard from witnesses that Nahid was pleading with the killers not to torture him. He kept saying that he did not work at New Market, and that he was fasting. But they did not listen to him at all. They used weapons to hit him in the head and other parts of the body."
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According to New Market police station sources, police are yet to identify where Nahid was attacked and beaten up.
“We are checking CCTV footage. We are looking into this matter in the interest of investigation, though no case has been filed yet,” a police official said.
How will I support the family?
"Nahid was my eldest son and a major help in leading the family. He married just months ago. I'm not sure what will happen to the girl now,” Nadim Hossain told Dhaka Tribune.
"We are very poor, which is why Nahid began working in a clothing store in New Super Market after class five, at the age of 10, as I could not afford to pay for his schooling. He only got a small amount of money during that period, but he did contribute to the family," said Nahid's father, who currently works for the Matador pen company.
Nadim Hossain has two more boys. One is seven years old and the other only three years old. He also supports his wife and daughter-in-law and is unsure how he will manage the entire family’s expenses on his own.
“I was at home after iftar yesterday, when one of Nahid's friends came to our house and asked where he was. When I said Nahid was at work, his friend showed me a video on Facebook and said Nahid was at DMCH. We went there as quickly as we could, but he had already died,” Nadim said, wiping tears from his eyes.
At 2:20 pm, Nahid's body was handed over to his family.
"No one from that courier service company has communicated with us yet," Nahid's father told Dhaka Tribune before leaving the morgue.
He also said Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni spoke with him on Tuesday night and promised to help financially as well as to prosecute the killers.
