Shaheed Ramij Uddin Ahmed. Photo : Collected

By Borun Kumar Dash

DHAKA, May 21, 2025 (BSS) – “I feel like I’m stroking my son’s head when I touch this helmet. It still holds the smell of his body,” with these words, Rabeya Sultana, mother of Shaheed Ramij Uddin Ahmed, wiped her son's helmet with her sari. She is unable to part with the last object that still carries his scent.

Rabeya (45) burst into tears while sharing memories of her son Ramij, who embraced martyrdom during the 2024 Uprising, with the BSS at their Baroikhali residence in the capital’s Hazaribagh area.
 
Ramij, a 21-year-old first-semester Computer Science student at Daffodil Technical Institute, was shot dead on August 4, 2024, during the anti-discrimination student movement. He was “shot dead by police” near the Karwan Bazar SAARC Fountain in the city.

While wiping the picture of her son hanged on the wall with utmost affection, Rabeya said, “Will my son never come back? He has gone forever!”

While lovingly wiping her son's photo hanging on the wall, Ramij’s grief-stricken mother Rabeya whispered, “Will my son never return? He has gone forever! I didn’t stop him from joining the protest. I don’t know why I didn’t.”

“As he was leaving with his friend Pranto to join the movement, he just told me ‘Amma, we’re going to the protest.’ That was it—he never came back alive,” she said tearfully.

Ramij was the younger of the two brothers. His elder brother, Redwan Ahmed Rangan (22), is physically and mentally challenged. Despite being younger, Ramij was Rangan’s primary caregiver — bathing him, feeding him, ensuring his comfort.

His father, AKM Rakibul Ahmed (48), was a businessman. But now his business has stopped for a few months.

Describing the fatal incident, Rakibul said his son, Ramij, left the house around 12noon with his friend Shafiqul Islam Pranto to join the movement that eventually turned into a massive student-people uprising.

“In the afternoon, hearing the news of violence across the city, his mother called Ramij when he told his mother that there was chaos. He will call her later. But who knew that would be his last conversation with his mother,” he said in an emotion-choked voice.

Rakibul said around 5.19pm, a bullet struck Ramij in the right eye during clashes between police along with activists of Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies, and the student protesters.

Being hit by the bullet, Ramij collapsed onto the ground. His friends rushed him to a clinic, then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him “brought dead”.

With the victory of the student-people uprising, the fascist Awami League government has fallen. All around, a new generation is now filled with determination to build a new nation. Yet, in the midst of all this, Ramij’s absence remains unforgettable for his parents.

They still cry, clinging to his photos and memories stored on their mobile phones. Often, they stand in front of the picture hung on the wall and murmur softly, as if speaking to their beloved son.

While visiting Ramij’s home in the city, it was observed that the silence was deafening. His friend Pranto, who now lives with the family and called Ramij’s mother ‘Maa’ too, greeted this correspondent at the door. According to his family, Ramij and Pranto grew up together.

Pranto broke down in tears recalling the day. “We were four friends—Ramij, Mahin, Akash, and I. Three of us came back. Ramij didn’t,” he wailed and said Ramij’s memories now haunt him all the time.

According to Pranto, they had joined a protest procession that started from Shahbagh and was marching toward Farmgate. When they reached Farmgate, they were attacked by “police and Awami League cadres”. The students retreated toward Karwan Bazar, where Ramij was shot around 5.19pm.

“We had just drank water together. Seconds later, he was on the ground, blood pouring out from his eye. We rushed him to the hospital . . . but couldn’t save him,” Pranto recalled tearfully. He said Ramij had encouraged others to join the protest via a Facebook group on that.

Ramij was laid to eternal rest at the Azimpur Graveyard on that same night. No post-mortem was performed.

Recounting the memories, his father said Ramij loved motorbikes. “We were going to buy him a new one next month,” Rakibul recalled and said on August 3, the evening before his death, he had come home and kept his helmet on the table—for the last time.

Since then Ramij’s mother refused to let anyone touch his helmet. “It was the last thing he brought home,” Rabeya whispered.

Ramij’s father, Rakibul, filed a murder case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ousted road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and 221 others for the killing.