Plea for justice

On December 10th, Mayer Daak hosted a poignant event at Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan where victim families and survivors laid bare the grim realities of police brutality, enforced disappearances and political persecution in Bangladesh. Heart-wrenching stories of amputated limbs, lost livelihoods, missing sons, and slain fathers echoed a shared cry for justice on Human Rights Day 2024.

Photos by Jibon Ahmed, text by Miraz Hossain.

Sumaiya Islam Tofa’s father, Shohidul Islam, was affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami and was apprehended by police on August 10th 2014. “Police shot my father in the leg,” Tofa told Netra News. Islam currently faces as many as 40 cases. Each time he secures bail in one case, he is arrested in another. While in custody, he endured severe injuries: his left leg was amputated, his right leg was broken, and one of his hands was fractured. He is now back in jail, accused in a “conspiracy case,” according to Tofa’s mother, Umme Salma. Salma, accompanied by her brother, shared her struggles at the Mayer Daak event. Tofa, now four years old, has seen her father a handful of times outside of detention. Her family continues to seek justice for him.

Farul Begum, a resident of Chatkhil in Noakhali, has been looking for her son for over four years now. Her son, Mohammad Parvez Hossain, disappeared in 2019. A Jubo Dal leader, Parvez was taken by police from Chowmuhani Chourasta, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Begum explained that her family has been living in agony. Parvez’s father, a woodcutter by profession, and his younger brother, Mohammad Faruk, have tirelessly joined her in the search. “I have left no stone unturned to find my son,” Begum told Netra News. Whenever they hear about an unidentified body, she and Faruk rush to see it, dreading it might be Parvez yet hoping for closure.

Abu Rayhan Uddin, a participant of the summer 2024 uprising, came straight from the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) to the event. On August 3rd, he was shot in the hand during a peaceful protest in Boddarhat, Chattogram. A textile labourer with no political affiliation, Uddin joined the protest seeking Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and justice for those who were injured and killed. However, the police responded by opening fire, causing his injury. He remains in the hospital, to a full recovery still elusive. Due to the severity of his injury, Uddin will never be able to return to his previous job in dyeing, leaving him with an uncertain future.

Three men from Satkania, Chattogram — Kamal Uddin, Mohammad Taher Uddin, and Enamul Haque — attended the Mayer Daak event to seek justice, recounting years of alleged extortion and police brutality under the directives of Abu Reza Muhammad Nezamuddin Nadwi, the former Awami League MP of the Chattogram-15 constituency.

Kamal Uddin, a former Jamaat-e-Islami activist, was arrested on July 6th 2014, while buying medicine for his mother. At the Detective Branch office, he was taken to a secluded place, restrained by multiple officers, and shot in the leg by Sub-Inspector Nazmul Huda. His leg became infected when he was denied treatment for 12 days, and had to be amputated.

Mohammad Taher Uddin, forcibly disappeared in 2013, had his family pay five lakh taka for his release. He was arrested again. Following the same pattern of violence, he was restrained by 10 to 12 officers, and shot in the leg. Over the past decade, he was imprisoned 19 times, paying three to four lakh takas each time to secure bail. He spent a total of nearly 50 lakh taka in bribes, and suffered his business being destroyed.

Enamul Haque was taken from his home on August 29th 2015 and subjected to torture. The police gave electric shocks to his leg seven times, tied him up, and shot him in the leg at close range. They twisted his leg, dislocating the bones, and left him hospitalised for over a month. Since then, he has been unable to walk.

12 year-old Jubayer Rahaman Ohi lost his father, Babar Hossain, a Jubo Dal leader, ten years ago. He attended the Mayer Daak event with his grandfather, Tofael Ahmed, seeking justice for his father's killing. Hossain was killed on March 17th 2014. Ohi, who was barely a toddler at the time, has no memories of his father. Recalling the incident, Ahmed said, “My son was riding his motorcycle when Awami League leaders barricaded him and shot him.” After filing a case, Ahmed was disheartened by the response of a senior police officer, who asked him, “Which party do you belong to? If you're with the Awami League, you will get justice; otherwise, you won’t.” Despite countless efforts over the years, the family has yet to see any justice for the murder.

The man in the photograph is Omor Faruk, a businessman from Lakshmipur who was fatally shot by unknown assailants opposite the district election office on March 29th 2020. His widow, Tania Akter, now faces the immense challenge of raising their two daughters, Fariya and Parisa, without their father. Akter supports her family through sewing, struggling to make ends meet while trying to ensure her children have a future. “It is really tough to raise two kids without a father,” she said, expressing the hardships her family has endured since losing Faruk.

After the events of August 5th, Kamrun Nahar returned to her home in Noakhali after eight years, only to find it in ruins, destroyed by Awami League goons. “The Rohingya refugees are in a better condition than me,” she said. One of her three sons, Abdul Kaiyum Mamun, was taken by men in white uniforms on September 19th 2015. Nahar is desperate to know if her son is alive or dead. “Many people asked for money in exchange for giving my son back,” she said. “I remember how my son loved shol fish curry; today, I can't even look at shol fish.” Nahar, a diabetes patient with health struggles, continues to search for Mamun, who was the organisational secretary of the Chhatra Dal in Chatkhil, Noakhali. She attended the event to share her son’s story if that helps to find him.

Papia Akter is seeking justice for her husband, Anawar Hossain Mahabub, who served as the Jubo Dal’s Joint Secretary for Lalbagh Ward 23. In January 2016, Mahabub was arrested and subjected to severe torture during four separate remands. Despite payments to the police for his release, he remained in custody, and his condition worsened due to relentless mistreatment. Mahabub’s health deteriorated to the point that he required hospitalisation. According to Akter, bribes were demanded even to admit him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Within 24 hours of admission on January 15th 2016, he passed away, vomiting blood. Akter recounted his words: “They put a mask on me, I lost consciousness, and since then, I couldn’t stop vomiting.” Akter suspects her husband was poisoned and has accused the authorities of gross medical negligence, asserting he was denied proper treatment. She continues to demand accountability and justice for her husband’s death.

Selim Reza Pintu’s siblings (Munni, Tanni, Onu, Reza) attended the event seeking answers about their brother, a Chhatra Dal leader from Sutrapur, who has been missing for 11 years. On the night of December 11th 2013, Pintu was picked up by a law enforcement agency from a relative’s house in Pallabi. Despite repeated attempts to locate him through the police, RAB, courts, and human rights organisations, his family has received no information about his whereabouts. Pintu had been married for less than a year when he disappeared. His elder sister, Munni says, “If he did anything wrong, they could have jailed him. We just want to know the truth.” The prolonged uncertainty has taken a heavy toll on the family — his father passed away anticipating the return of his son, and his mother suffers from paralysis. The family continues to plead for closure, saying, “Whatever happened, we just want to know.”

On Human Rights Day, answering the call of Mayer Daak, many injured survivors and bereaved families from the summer 2024 uprising brought photographs of their loved ones, sharing their stories of loss and resilience.●