Sajjad Hossain. BSS

NILPHAMARI, May 30, 2025 (BSS) – Before stepping out to join the ‘March to Dhaka Programme’ on August 5 in 2024 aimed at overthrowing the long-standing fascism, Sajjad Hossain had promised to his family to return home with victory.
 
The movement succeeded on that day under the leadership of anti-discrimination student movement, but Sajjad, a 25-year-old final-year textile engineering student at Sonargaon University, could not enjoy the victory.
 
According to family sources, Sajjad was in the forefront of the ‘March to Dhaka Programme’ when he was fatally shot around 11 am near Savar Bus Stand area in Dhaka.

Though he was rushed to Enam Medical College Hospital and undergoing treatment there, Sajjad succumbed to his injuries the following day (August 6) around 2 pm. Later, he was laid to eternal rest at Hatikhana graveyard at his village in Syedpur here on August 7.

Apart from continuing his studies, Sajjad, a permanent resident of Lakkhanpur Pathanpara village of Syedpur Upazila in the district, had been working at a garment factory to support his family, including his 60-year-old father Almagir Hossain, his 55-year-old mother Shahida Begum, and his newlywed wife Sumi Akter (22). 

He was the eldest of four siblings—two married sisters, Asha and Anika, and a younger sister Nishad. His father serves as an imam at a local mosque in Savar. 

Recalling the morning of the fateful day, Sajjad’s father tearfully said, “He left home around 7am, saying he was going to join the procession. He asked his wife for his university ID card, but she refused. Therefore, they had a minor argument. 

“Around 10 am, when I called and told him not to be in the front lines, he asked me not to worry about him,” Almagir said in a heavy voice. 

After Zohr prayers, when the news spread that Sheikh Hasina had resigned from the post of the Prime Minister and fled the country in face of the massive student-people uprising, Alamgir said he called Sajjad, but found his phone switched off. 

“Later, I went to C&B point in Savar and came to know that Sajjad had been shot and was rushed to Enam medical,” he said, adding, after reaching the hospital, he found his son was put on oxygen support. 

When the doctor said that he needed five bags of blood and wanted to know the blood group, grieving Alamgir said, “Before I could speak, Sajjad replied that his blood group was ‘B’ positive. And that was the last sentence he said.” 

On the next day around 12 noon, doctors declared Sajjad dead, he lamented. 

Sajjad’s death exposed his family to a total wilderness both emotionally and financially as he was only son of his parents. 

“Sajjad was my only son—my only support. I’m old now and can’t work much. Sajjad studied and worked to help us survive,” Alamgir said, adding, his income as an imam was not enough for their survival.

Alamgir said they got Sajjad married to Sumi Akter just seven months before Sajjad’s death. Once Sumi worked at a garment factory but after her husband’s death, she could not join the work overcoming the grief. 

Sajjad’s grieving widow over phone told BSS, “I had so many dreams centering my husband. He always told me happiness would come to our home. I never imagined that dream would vanish from our life so quickly.”