A total of 133 children were killed during the July uprising last year. Among them were students from various schools, colleges, and madrasas, as well as children engaged in different informal sectors. Of the total, 117 were shot dead. These findings have emerged from a Prothom Alo investigation.
The youngest victim was four-year-old Abdul Ahad, who was shot while standing on the balcony of his home in Rayerbagh, Jatrabari, on 19 July. He succumbed to his injuries the following day while receiving treatment in the ICU of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Three other children, like Ahad, were shot and killed in their own homes. They were Safqat Samir (10) in Mirpur, Naima Sultana (15) in Uttara, and Riya Gope (6) in Narayanganj.
The first child casualty of the uprising occurred on 17 July. Fifteen-year-old Md Siam, who had been travelling from Bhola to Dhaka to visit his cousin, was shot dead. His cousin, Md Rasel Hossain, told Prothom Alo that Siam was killed under the Mayor Hanif Flyover in Jatrabari. He was a student of Class VIII.
According to Bangladesh’s Children Act of 2013, any individual under the age of 18 is legally considered a child.
Prothom Alo compiled verified data on 810 individuals who were killed during the July uprising. From 15 June to 15 July, Prothom Alo staff reporters and local correspondents visited the families of these victims to verify and document their information. A total of 47 journalists were involved in this data collection process.
As of 2 August, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs had listed 844 names in its official gazette. However, a corrected gazette was released on Sunday night, removing eight names. The updated gazette, published around 9:00 pm, now lists 836 martyrs.
According to ministry sources, four of the eight names removed—including that of a child—had been listed twice, while the remaining four were found not to have been directly involved in the July movement.
Prothom Alo also identified one child who had been listed twice in the official gazette, but the newspaper counted the victim only once in its analysis.
A Prothom Alo analysis reveals that among the martyred children, 91 were students of schools, colleges, and madrasahs. Another 41 worked as labourers in various informal sectors.
One of the victims was four-year-old Ahad. Had he lived, Ahad would have started school in January this year. Two months after his death, the family moved from their home in Rayerbagh to the Mirpur-1 area. On 11 July, this Prothom Alo reporter visited their new home and spoke with Ahad’s father, Abul Hasan.
Describing the events of that day, Abul Hasan said they used to live on the 8th floor of an 11-storey building in Rayerbagh. It was a Friday, so he was home. Ahad was playing inside. Suddenly, after hearing a loud noise from below, he, his wife, and Ahad went to the balcony.
Ahad stood between them. Armed men in helmets, supporting the then Awami League government, were firing at protestors and shooting upwards with raised arms. A bullet struck Ahad in his right eye… it passed through his eye and into his head. At one point during the conversation, he fell silent. After a while, he said, “Nothing feels good without my son.”
Abul Hasan demands exemplary punishment for those who shot and killed his little boy.
Prothom Alo’s investigation found that from 16 July to 5 August, 2024, alongside law enforcement agencies, many leaders and activists of the Awami League (now banned) and its affiliated organisations were involved in attacks and shootings to suppress student and public protests.
Even after the Awami League government was overthrown on 5 August last year, law enforcement personnel continued firing in different areas. People were martyred then as well. For example, six-year-old Jabir Ibrahim of Uttara was shot dead while participating in a victory procession with his parents.
68 pc were students
Prothom Alo’s analysis shows that four of the martyred children were girls. They were Riya Gopa (6), Naeema Sultana (15), Rita Akhter (17), and Nafisa Hossain Marwa (17). Among them, Riya was shot on her rooftop and Naeema in her balcony. Rita and Nafisa had joined the protests; both were killed by gunfire.
On the afternoon of 19 July last year, Naeema was shot in the head while bringing laundry from the balcony of their Uttara home. She was a tenth-grade student at Milestone School and College.
Her mother, Ainun Nahar, told Prothom Alo, “I never imagined we’d become so unsafe in our own home. Now everything fills us with fear... Naeema wanted to become a doctor. It’s all over.”
According to Prothom Alo’s findings, 91 of the martyred children were students, which accounts for 68 per cent of the total deaths. The others worked in small shops, garment factories, construction, as street vendors, or in small businesses.
One of the children was shot multiple times at point-blank range by police. The incident occurred on 20 July. Imam Hasan Tayem Bhuiyan (17) was martyred in a brutal police attack near the Kajla footbridge in Jatrabari. A video of the incident went viral at the time.
Tayem was a student of Government Adamjinagar MW College in Narayanganj. His elder brother, Robiul Awal, told Prothom Alo, “Our father had a cerebral stroke from the grief of losing Tayem. Seventy per cent of one of his hands is now paralysed. Our mother is always depressed. We want justice for Tayem’s murder.”
88pc were shot
Sabur (14), who was shot, was found by his family with a half-burned body. He was a tenth-grade student at Shaheen School and College in Ashulia, near Dhaka.
Sabur’s elder brother, Rizwanul Islam, told Prothom Alo that Sabur had joined the protest on the morning of 5 August. Around noon, Sabur called him and said there was intense shooting from the police station. Rizwanul told him to return home, but Sabur never did. They found his body the next day, on 6 August.
Rizwanul told Prothom Alo, “It’s now clear from multiple sources that Sheikh Hasina herself gave the order to fire on the student-public uprising. We demand exemplary punishment for everyone involved in the killings.”
Prothom Alo’s analysis found that 88 per cent of the children who were martyred were shot.
Several names of children martyred in the mass uprising remain on people’s lips. One such name is Shahariar Khan Anas (16), a tenth-grade student at Gandaria Adarsha High School in Old Dhaka.
On 5 August, he left a letter at home before joining the protest. In it, he wrote, “Ma, I’m going to the rally. I can’t hold back anymore. Dying a hero in the struggle, taking a bullet, is better than living in fear like a selfish coward.” That day, he was shot dead in Chankharpul.
Mohammad Farhanul Islam Bhuiyan (17) of Mohammadpur, known on social media as “Farhan Faiyaz,” was also killed. He died from gunshot wounds on 18 July. A day earlier, he had posted on his Facebook account in English: “One day we all have to leave this world. Live in a way that people remember you after death.”
‘This was genocide’
Rasheda K Choudhury, a former adviser to the caretaker government, considers the killings during the July uprising to be genocide. She told Prothom Alo, “The killing of unarmed people, including children and adolescents, can only be described as genocide. The way the country’s own children were murdered has stained the face of the nation with disgrace. This is a shameful chapter in our country’s history. At the same time, it is a matter of pride that people of all ages, including children and teenagers, stood with courage against tyranny.”
*Prothom Alo correspondents Md. Mamun, Jannatul Nayeem, Abriti Ahmed, and correspondents from the respective districts helped filing this report.
*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition in Bangla, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat