Hamida Banu, whose life was surrounded by darkness, lost her hope of surviving in the world for a while when her husband left her with her nine-month-old Antor.

However, this harsh reality developed Hamida into a struggling mother who sacrificed her life for the promise of making her son an enlightened citizen. Asharaful Islam Antor became the sole reason for his survival in the world.

15-year-old Antor became Hafiz-e-Quran thanks to his mother’s efforts and sacrifice of all her personal needs. But on August 5, as Antor embraced his martyrdom, suddenly the murderers’ bullets took Hamida’s “everything” away forever.

On August 5, police opened fire on jubilant people celebrating victory after the ouster of autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.

Antor’s mourner said, “Since my husband left me with my son, I have put in all my efforts to make my son a valuable child. I would always walk from Kamrangirchar to my workplace in New Market to save money for my son’s education.” mother.

Hamida burst into tears recalling the struggle she went through during an interview with BSS recently at her home in Dogair area of ​​Demra Police Station in Jatrabari area of ​​the city.

Since Antor’s mother had to work outside and it was difficult to care for her child, Antor grew up in his (maternal) grandmother’s house in the Dogair area, while all his aunts helped raise him.

Khuku Moni, one of Antor’s aunts, said in a heavy voice: “My sister sacrificed her whole life for Antor. She has not been married for nine years since her husband left her thinking about Antor’s future. But we forced her to marry six years ago.”.

He added: “We raised Antor, but his mother worked outside and paid all his expenses.”

Antor’s crying mother, Hamida, stated that she worked hard to raise her son and said, “I enrolled my son in the Holy Quran Madrasa in the Hifz section, where the children of wealthy families are educated.”

However, she recalled the contribution of her current husband, Ferdous Khan, a Malaysian expatriate, in carrying out Antor’s education at the Holy Quran Madrasa.

Hamida said Antor had a dream of joining the Bangladesh Police. Therefore, in January this year, he enrolled her in seventh grade at Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) Institute in Dogair district.

“I dreamed that my son Hafez would perform my funeral prayer, but the bullet fired by the police destroyed my dream. Now who will carry my corpse to the grave, perform the funeral prayer and dowa for me?” said Hamide, sobbing.

Antor’s crying mother added, “I never thought that my son would leave me at such an early age. My son would have been a valuable citizen of this country. However, the brutal murders reduced my success to zero.”

About Antor’s participation in the anti-discrimination student movement, Khuku Moni said that they did not know that Antor regularly participated in street protests.

“We knew it from others. But when we asked him, he never admitted it. One day, we received evidence that he was involved in the movement,” the woman said, adding that Antor’s mother wanted to beat him at that time, but she forbade him.

A crying Khuku Moni said, “Today I feel that I made a mistake by stopping his mother from beating him. If I had allowed his mother to beat him, Antor would have stayed with us. He would not have left us at such an early age.”

He said Antor went to the show again on August 4 and told friends, “I don’t know if I’ll come back.”

“The day Antor came home, I verbally abused him and asked him not to go out because many people were shot and killed,” said the woman, adding that Antor killed her after eating dinner around 12 or 12.30 on August 5. He secretly left the house.

Khuku Moni, who said that Antor was missing since then until August 7, said that he randomly searched for Antor in the Jatrabari area during this period, but could not find any trace.

“We never thought that he might have been killed with a firearm, so we did not search for him in hospitals until August 7. However, on August 7, my mother and I started looking for him in all hospitals. However, we could not find him. We became even more tense with him,” he said.

At one point, a student controlling traffic at Shanir Akhra took Khuku Moni to Dania College, taking with him a photocopy of his school ID card and a photograph of Antor.

The student then suggested going to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Mugda Medical College and Hospital, saying that the bodies of those shot dead in the Shanir Akhra area were sent there.

When they could not find Antor at Muğda Medical Faculty and Hospital, they returned home.

Khuku Moni cried and said, “Meanwhile, my nephew Hridoy (his elder sister’s son) posted a status on Facebook stating that Antor was missing since August 5. Following this, we got information that Antor was no more. His body was at DMCH.” Khuku Moni is crying.

Stating that they did not know anything about the place of death, the woman said in a heavy voice: “When we received the body, we saw two bullet marks, one in the middle of his chest and the other in his leg. Then we found a body. The video we confirmed that Antor was shot and killed by the police.”

In the video, police are seen coming out of Jatrabari Police Station in full force, intercepting protesters on the street and shooting at them like birds. At that time, Antor was trying to hide under Mayor Hanif Köprülü’s column, right across from the police station, to escape the bullets, but he failed.

Khuku Moni was crying as she showed Antor’s photo where he was smiling even after his nephew’s death.

Recalling the pains taken to retrieve the body, the woman said that the DMCH authority did not give them a death certificate in the name of Antor, instead they issued an anonymous death certificate and buried Antor in Dogair cemetery with this document.

Antor’s grieving family members called on the government to take steps to permanently preserve the martyrs’ graves and demanded that all murders, including Antor’s murder during the student mass uprising, be prosecuted.