‘No one can fling down a living person this way’

The person was flung down to the ground from an armoured vehicle of the police. He lay inert near the wheels of the armoured vehicle. Afterwards, a member of police got down from the vehicle and dragged him with one hand to one side, leaving him on the road. Later, several policemen pulled him aside and threw on the other side of the road divider.

The incident took place near the Pakiza Model Mosque centering the movement for quota reform in government jobs on 18 July.

The person who was thrown on the road is Shaik Ashhabul Yeamin. He is a fourth year student at the computer science and engineering department of Mirpur Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). He would stay at Osmani Hall of MIST. His house is at Bank Town residential area in Savar. His family and friends would call him Yeamin.

Prothom Alo talked to Yeamin's father Md Mohiuddin at his residence in Bank Town residential area in Savar on Tuesday.

He said, "No one can fling down a living person in this way. I don't seek justice from anyone. I have not filed any GD. Postmortem of the body of my son was not conducted. I only sought justice from almighty Allah. Pray so that we can have patience."

The video of Yeamin flung down in this way spread on Facebook. Mohiuddin saw the video two days after of the incident. However, the video is not available on Facebook but many downloaded the video.

Mohiuddin said many people posted various statements about Yeamin after his death. He wants everyone to know the real information about his son.

Yeamin was born on 12 December 2001. He passed SSC and HSC from Cantonment School and College in Savar. He preserved all certificates including HSC, SSC and Bangladesh Chemistry Olympiad-Math Olympiad and other documents. Fathre Mohiuddin was emotionally showing all the certificates. Yeamin's mother Nasrin Sultana is a housewife. Sister Shaik Ashhabul Jannat studies at Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University.

Mother and sister were reluctant to talk about Yeamin.

Yeamin was buried at Bank Town residential area in Savar. Mother Nasrin Sultana has planted a tulsi tree and flower plants there. A banner with a portrait of Yeamin was hung at the local Shaheed Minar. Others including leaders of political parties are paying tributes with flowers. Watching the video of my son being brutally killed is painful, says Mohiuddun.

Mohiuddin has taken voluntary retirement from a private bank. He said the death of a child means grief till death.

Yeamin's father alleged after his son was brutally killed by police, a probe was made into their political affiliation.

He said, "I don't want anyone to make my son a pawn for a political party. My son was politically conscious. I am also politically conscious. However, I am not involved in any politics. My son got chance in BUET and Rangpur Medical. But he didn't get into admission. He studied at Cantonment School and College in Savar. Later, he got admitted to MIST. There is no scope to do politics in these two institutions."

Mohiuddin said the family members and many others watched the video on Facebook. But they don’t know in detail what actually happened that day. They heard in bits and pieces about the incidents from Yeamin’s friends.

Yeamin came home from his MIST hall on 17 July morning. He had a heated argument with the hall authorities over their directives to close the dormitory. His father came to know about the incident from his write-up after his death.

Mohiuddin was going out on 18 July morning. Around 10:30 am, Yeamin came to him and asked if he knew anyone at any hospital in the Mirpur area where he could admit his friends.

Mohiddin told his son that he did not know anyone in any hospital in Mirpur. But the injured could be taken to a hospital at Technical intersection. His son was angry with him. Those were the last sentences the father and son exchanged.

The Savar area was in turmoil on 18 July due to the movement. Yeamin left the home saying he was going to see his friends. Later, everyone in the house started calling him but he did not answer the phone.

Around 3:00 pm, a person phoned them and asked them to go to Enam Medical College. “I thought maybe my son was injured. Along with my wife, I reached the hospital. A person there asked us to go to the OT when we told our son’s name. We were asked to go to the ground floor from the OT. A female physician hugged Yeamin’s mother there. Even at that moment we did not think our son had died,” Mohiuddin recounted to Prothom Alo.

That physician led them in front of a locked room where several students were gathering. When she unlocked the door, we saw Yeamin lying on a stretcher.

“They informed us that our son passed away even before reaching the hospital,” he added.

Mohiuddin informed Prothom Alo  that the autopsy of Yeamin’s body was not done due to a family decision. He said they wanted to take the body home quickly as students were chanting outside; some people of the hospital were afraid of handing over the body as he died in police firing, some even obstructed us to take the body. The students were thinking of bringing out a procession with Yeamin’s body. At that time, we brought the body home by ambulance quickly with the help of one of our son’s friends.

Mohiuddin said they wanted to bury him in the village home in Kushtia but a relative from there phoned him to say that the local police station told them that the burial is not possible without any order. The country’s situation also did not support us to go to Kushtia from Dhaka. We were told from Savar police station that an autopsy report is required to bury him in Savar. Later, we discussed the matter with a police officer friend who said there won’t be any problem if we bury him at the family graveyard. That is why we buried our son in the graveyard of this colony.

Yeamin was meritorious and was involved with debate competitions. He was the vice-president of the debating club at MIST. He would watch ‘Tom and Jerry’ at his leisure periods, said his father.

Mohiuddin said he thought about opening a foundation in the name of his father but now he wants to name the foundation after his son. Any donation to the foundation will be used for the families of the persons who died or people who sustained injuries in the student movement.

When this correspondent was preparing to leave, Mohiuddin showed him a photograph of the body of Yeamin and said, “He was shot at point blank range. Look at the marks of the bullet at the left side of his chest. Then he was flung down from the APC.”

(Samsuzzaman from Savar helped in preparing this report)

* The report, originally published in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam and Shameem Reza