Photo: BSS

By Barun Kumar Das

DHAKA, May 31, 2025 (BSS) - The passport has been made. The documents are almost ready. Shovan was supposed to go to Japan to pursue higher education. But he could not go to Japan.
 
The son wanted to work after completing his studies and alleviate the family's poverty. Before that, Shovon had to leave the illusion of this world and leave.
 
Shovan's mother Shahnaz Begum, 40, told BSS this while talking to BSS at her rented house on Road No 3 in the Boragram Chhoto Masjid area of Kamrangirchar in the capital city.
 
On July 19, college student Shahidul Islam Shovan, 19, was martyred in police firing in the New Market area of the capital while participating in the anti-discrimination student movement protest marches.
 
Shahnaz Begum said, 'That day was Friday, July 19. Shovan was eating ‘Biriani’ after offering Friday prayers at noon. His friends were calling him repeatedly to say that they would all join the movement. The boy ate it in a hurry and left.
 
She said, “I didn’t know that that would be my son's last meal…that this would be my last meeting and conversation with him?'
 
Shahidul Islam Sobhan was killed in the anti-discrimination student movement in the New Market area of the capital on July 19 at around 6:30 pm.
 
He was buried at Hafizi Huzur Graveyard in the Kamrangirchar area on Saturday afternoon, July 20.
 
Born on December 16, 2005, Shovan passed his HSC from Sheikh Borhan Uddin College in 2024.
 
Shovan's mother said in a tearful voice, “So many dreams I had about my son, everything is over. My well-organized family is over. I don't know how we will spend the rest of our lives. We have nothing to ask from the government.”
 
“Shovan died with the dream for the country in his heart, let this country be the way Shovan wanted it to be. The people of the country should remember my son and not forget his sacrifice,’” she said.
 
Shaheed Shovan hailed from Uttar Kholapara village under Srinagar police station in Munshiganj.
 
His father Nazrul Islam , 46, is a small businessman. However, he has closed his business since his son was killed due to physical illness.
 
Shovan’s younger sister Nadia Islam Neha, 14, is an eighth grade student at the local Ashrafa High School.
 
When this BSS reporter went to Shahid Shovan's house in Kamrangirchar, he saw a large inscription on the wall in front of the table, 'Not in the shadow, fear in the light'.
 
Books and papers are arranged on the table in the same way. There is a big TV. Clothes are arranged in the cupboard. Pictures with family members are taken. Shovan’s mother showed all this to the reporter.
 
She said, “Earlier there were four members of our family in the picture. Now, Shovan is no more. This picture is just a memory. There are books to read, but I don’t have Shovan. I bought a TV in January. Who will watch this TV now?”
 
The mother said, “Look at the way his brother's clothes are arranged here. His sister Neha starts crying after seeing the clothes and says, "My beloved, brother, will you never come back? How will we survive without you?”
 
Shovan’s father Nazrul Islam said, Shahidul Islam Shovon was shot by police in the New Market area of Dhaka on July 19 while protesting. He was supposed to go to Japan for his studies. I had almost prepared the documents.
 
“But he couldn't go. Before that, he responded to the Owner's call and went to the other world,” he said.
 
Quoting eyewitnesses, Shovan’s father said, “About the incident that day, actually we were not there at that time, it was not clear who went to the movement with whom, who went where during the movement. Even his friends can't say.”
 
A boy named Alamgir Hossain took Shovan to the hospital.
 
Alamgir Hossain said, "We were in front of the New Market petrol pump at that time. There was a chase and a counter chase. The sound of gunfire was intermittent. When the police had gone far, I looked back and saw a boy sitting in a prostration position.”
 
“By then, the police had passed us and moved further ahead. I ran to the boy. I saw that he was bleeding profusely. He had been shot in the lower abdomen. He looked at me and said, ‘Brother, please take me to the hospital,” Alamgir said.
 
The boy said, “As soon as he said this, he threw his body at me. We quickly took a rickshaw. The boy was still alive.”
 
Quoting Alamgir, Nazrul Islam further said, ‘I unlocked his phone with my finger and called his mother at home to tell her that Shovan had been shot. We were taking him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”
 
“After taking him to the hospital, I saw a scattering of injured and dead people there. There was crying and commotion all around. A doctor saw the pulse and said, ‘He died a long time ago.’ Shovan’s mother said. 
 
“I ran to the hospital like crazy after hearing the news. I saw my son lying on a trolley on one side of the emergency department. A few boys were standing next to him. I ran to Shovan. My son's body is frozen,” she said.
 
The father said, “No matter how much I shook it, no matter how many times I called, the son didn't say anything. He didn't say a word.”

He said, “Since our son died while participating in the anti-discrimination student-public movement, I was afraid that the police would take the body away and if they would arrest us!”
 
So, without an autopsy, the father hurriedly brought his son’s boy from the hospital with the help of his brothers and friends.
 
Reminiscing about her son, Shovan's mother Shahnaz Begum said, a few years ago, on February 21, Shovan was in class seven or eight at the time. That day, Shovan made a poster and posted it on Facebook.
 
“That poster had pictures of five language martyrs: Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Shafiq, Jabbar, a picture of the Shaheed Minar, and Shovan's own picture. Over time, all the characters in that poster are the same today, they are all martyrs,” she said.
 
She said, “Every one of them sacrificed their lives on the streets for the country. Almighty Allah might have decided Shovan's martyrdom and all the characters in that poster became one.”
 
"We didn't know my son had such a deep love for his country. He himself was a poster boy for his country," she said.