‘What was the crime of my son, why did I have to lose my son?’

“What was the crime of my son? What did I have to lose my son? I want justice for my son,” said Farida Yesmin, mother of 20-year-old Mahmudul Hasan, who died sustaining bullet injuries in head in the city’s Uttara on 18 July.

Mahmudul Hasan is from Char Kailash area of Hatia pourashava in Noakhali. He was buried in his maternal grandfather’s house in Mohammadpur in Harani union of the upazila.

This correspondent talked to Farida Yasmin at Mohammadpur village Friday afternoon.

She told Prothom Alo that she talked to her son over mobile phone on 18 July noon. He told his mother that neither there was any fish and vegetables in the mess nor he could go out for three days. He was supposed to leave the mess for his home in Noakhali that evening after observing the situation.

Within a few hours of talking to her son, one of Mahmudul’s classmates phoned Yasmin to inform her that her son had fallen sick.

“I rushed to Dhaka hearing about my son’s sickness only to find that he had already passed away. I did not go to Dhaka to bring my son’s dead body, rather I went there to help him recover. How would I live without my son?” she lamented.

Mahmudul joined as an intern at an office in Dhaka after completing his study in electronics from Lakshmipur polytechnic institute.

Farida helped her son admit to a mess on 2 July. He used to stay there with three other classmates.

Mahmudul’s father Md. Jamal Uddin is an official of a nongovernment development organisation. He told Prothom Alo that Mahmudul never got entangled in any fracas. Rather, his focus was on studying. He dreamt of helping the family after completing his studies but a bullet has ended everything.

Two of Mahmudul Hasan’s classmates - Sayem and Sourav Hasan - came to his grandfather’s house to condole the family.

Detailing the incident to Prothom Alo, Sourav Hasan said that four of them went outside to have snacks around 6:00 pm on 18 July. Suddenly they heard gunshots while going towards Rajlakshmi in Uttara. A bullet pierced Mahmudul’s head while they were fleeing. They could not understand who fired the bullet.

He further said they took injured Mahmudul to local Crescent Hospital. After a few while, physicians there informed them that Mahmudul had passed away.