Martyred Mominul Hossain Hridoy. Photo: Collected

By Selina Sheuly
 
DHAKA, June 4, 2025 (BSS) - The situation in the country was not good, there were gunshots and there was chaos, the sound of only shells all around. 
 
"Don't go anywhere, my son. I wouldn't go anywhere, mom," mother of martyred Mominul Hossain Hridoy recalled.  

But, the mother couldn't say why her son went away. Even after making a promise, Hridoy could not keep his word. 
 
Hridoy's mother Mariyam Begum, 45, was narrating the story of her son's martyrdom while talking to BSS recently.
 
She said, "That was the last words I said to my 25-year-old only son, Hridoy."
 
"I was downstairs, in a mobile vegetable van shop. I also sold vegetables some of the day to help his father. When I came home around 11 am, I saw Hridoy taking a quick bath," she said.
 
She asked, "Have you taken a quick bath?" 
 
"Mom, today is Friday, that's why I have taken a bath," Hridoy replied.
 
She said, "You have taken a shower, but you have filled the bucket with wet clothes in the bathroom."
 
Then Hridoy said to his sister, "Samia, you wash the clothes. Mom will cook."
 
Then he said to his younger sister, "You clean the room. That way, Mom will have time for prayers."
 
Sighing, Mariyam said, "I talked to my son a lot. I said, don't go anywhere, the days are bad, I lost my parents as a child, there is no one in the world, you are the only one who is here by God's will. If anything happens to you, I would have nothing." 
 
Shaheed Hridoy was martyred in police firing at Mirpur 10 on July 19, 2024. 
 
On that day, there were widespread clashes, attacks, vandalism, shootings, arson and loss of life in the capital Dhaka surrounding the 'Complete Shutdown' program of the anti-discrimination movement.
 
Hridoy was a second year Bachelor of Social Science student at Government Bangabandhu College in Pallabi, Mirpur. 
 
He also used to sell vegetables with his father in front of their rented house in Mirpur D Block, Road 27, House-1, Ward No 5. 
 
They hail from Village Banchanagar under Laksmipur police station of Laksmipur district. 
 
She said "Hridoy went to offer Jumma prayers on Friday. I had kept lunch on Hridoy's study table. After prayers, he came home. His body and mind were bad." 
 
"I asked my elder daughter Samia, what is going on at home today, did you say anything to Hridoy?" the mother said.
 
Samia said, "I have told nothing." 
 
Before noon, the three siblings were frying chicken and making noodles. 
 
"Hey, you're the ones who gave him less noodles than you cooked. That's why he's upset," the mother said.
 
Hridoy said to his mother, "Mom, don't cook too much. Only boil potatoes, cook pulse and fry eggs. I haven't eaten fried eggs for a long time."
 
Hridoy's mother said, "After coming back from praying, he ate noodles again. Later, he ate rice. I said, Hridoy, didn't you eat fried eggs, what's wrong? 
 
He said, "Mother, keep it, I'll eat it at night." 
 
Then, he said to his two sisters, "You won't eat my share of fried eggs, I'll eat it with rice after coming back home at night." 
 
"I had kept that fried egg for him," the mother said.
 
Mariyam said, "Hridoy brought a lovebird to the house to pet. Then I said who will pet the birds you brought? It creates a lot of dust, I can't pet it." 
 
Hridoy said, "Mom, I will do it. You don't have to do it. You just give the bird ginger water sometimes." Then, he stayed at home. 
 
Meanwhile, it was time for Asr prayers. He went out to pray. I also went out with him to buy some small groceries. He went to a shop in front of the house, drank cold milk and went towards the vegetable shop at Kalshi More. 
 
While leaving, the mother said, "I am not afraid of dying. I am old enough to die. But you are not old. You live." 
 
I advised Hridoy, "When necessary, run to someone's house on Kalshi Road, leaving the vegetable van and money box. You will not take anything. The police are running everywhere. They will not let me sit. They have chased me away twice before."
 
Mariyam said that on Thursday, the police at Mirpur No 10 beat him with a rifle butt. 
 
On Friday, around 11 am, she saw him standing in front of the dressing table mirror and rubbing his shoulder with his hand. 
 
She said, "I went closer and said, I have heard from others that you went to No 10 in the procession. Don't go anywhere today. If you go, I am telling you, I will chain you up." 
 
She further said, "When I was leaving, I told Hridoy not to go anywhere. The situation outside is very bad." 
 
Hearing this, Hridoy smiled and said, "Mother, do people die if something happens? Are you so afraid of dying?" 

She warned him sternly, "If you walk into danger, danger will find you. Even the simple act of breathing offers no safety." 

He replied with defiance, "I am strong. If danger comes, then I will die-so be it!"
 
She said, "Hridoy would not go out without a heart. He would make me comfortable, cook for me, and clean the house. When I should have been at home, I would have stayed outside."
 
 "I often sit in front of the grave. I see Hridoy, cry and feel peace in my heart. I had a dream that my son would get a government job. He would end everyone's suffering. I have no peace anywhere without my son," the mother said, crying.
 
Hridoy's father Saiful Islam alias Biplob Hossain, 50, said, "Hridoy was shot in the back. The bullet hit his liver and exited through the front. His two hands were full of bullet marks. He died on the way to the hospital. 
 
When his body was brought home, the street in front of his house was full of people. 
 
"All I heard was, 'Hridoy is dead...Hridoy is dead...," said the father, who sells vegetables on the sidewalk in a van-cart. 
 
"On July 18, at 3 am, I went to Karwan Bazar to bring goods. After returning, I started selling vegetables in the van-cart. My son was still at home. I never let him stand in the shop in the morning and sell," he said.
 
He said, "I didn't feel well on Friday and wanted to go home and sleep. Hridoy always goes to D Block in Mirpur and prays. I called him and asked him to come. The other day, when I called him, he came late, and that day, he came to the shop immediately." 
 
Hridoy came and said, "Dad, you go home.' Although we sell vegetables in the market in front of our house in the morning, there is no demand for vegetables in these areas in the afternoon. So in the afternoon, we would go to Kalshi intersection and set up shop."
 
Biplob said, "I told Hridoy to go home to eat and then take a rest before coming to the shop. At 4:30 pm, I saw Hridoy lying on the floor, thinking about something. He had been in a bad mood for two or three days."
 
"After eating, I thought about talking to him and why he was in a bad mood. Later, I thought it would take time to talk, so I would tell him at night. The police were chasing everyone in Kalshi," he said.
 
He said, "At 5 pm, I warned Hridoy when he was leaving. That was the last time I looked at his face. I was lying on the bed."
 
"When Hridoy was going towards Kalshi in the van-cart, his aunt was telling him about the problem. Hearing this, he said, "I will go, otherwise father will be angry," the father recalled, crying.
 
Biplob cried and said, "His aunt said, don't let him go to Kalshi. He will join the movement if he gets the chance."

He also said, "If he leaves the shop to the new employee and joins the movement, he will be punished."
 
"He had gone to the movement a few days before. He was standing in front of me at the shop on time at noon. He was not caught. I sleep for three to four hours at home," he said.
 
He said that at around 6:30 in the evening, Hridoy's mother woke him up and said, "There is a lot of shooting at number 10, you go and send him home." 
 
"I got up in a panic. I went to Kalshi and found the van-cart with the employee. I heard that the police were chasing them. After being chased by the police, Hridoy drove the van into a house and got out," he said.
 
"I learned that he had gone to the movement after receiving a call from some friends," the father said. 
 
He said, "I learned that Hridoy was shot by the police at number 10. I didn't believe it. There are some boys in the area. I learned that one of his friends took Hridoy to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital." 
 
He cried and said, "How can I believe, how can I be sure that my Hridoy is no more? He was already doing business an hour ago!"
 
"When I went to the hospital around 8:30 pm, I saw bodies being thrown on top of other bodies like sacks of potatoes inside the hospital morgue," he said. 
 
Hridoy's one friend was sitting with his body in his lap. 
 
He was saying that he wouldn't give the body to the morgue, but instead he was saying that Hridoy's relatives would come and then we would take the body.
 
Hridoy's father said, "When it was announced that Hridoy had died in police firing, local leaders and terrorists of Awami League threatened us and did not allow us to wash Hridoy's body and lead the funeral prayer.' 
 
"At 10:30 pm, the Imam of D Block of No 12 gave a bath to Hridoy and conducted the funeral prayer himself," he said. 
 
There was a curfew from 12 pm, there were no people on the streets and a helicopter kept circling in the sky and flashing its torch lights repeatedly. While the funeral prayer was being held in front of the house, a police car arrived at 12:30 pm. 
 
"They ordered the funeral to be completed in ten to fifteen minutes. Over a thousand people had gathered for the funeral. The helicopter was accompanying us until the burial of Hridoy at Kalshi graveyard," he said.
 
Biplob said, "Two days after Hridoy's death, the Awami league people took me to the Bappi councilor's office and said they would take me to Sheikh Hasina and make me meet him and they would give me an FDR of Taka ten lakh." 
 
"The boys in that office taught me and told me that my son was a Jubo League worker and my son was martyred while participating in their movement. I did not agree with the councilor's words. I said my son did not die in front of me, how can I lie?"
 
"My son was doing business and studying. We are ordinary people. We work and earn a living. Hridoy was not involved in any politics," he said. 
 
The father said, "That same day, the officer-in-charge of Mirpur model police station called me and said that I have to tell him that BNP-Jamaat have killed my son. He was a Chhatra League worker and they have shot him to death,"
 
Biplob said, "I have received many threats after Hridoy's death. Many people, including the then student coordinator Md Sarjis, came to console me."
 
The father said, "I had a dream that Hridoy will take responsibilities of his family as well as marriage arrangement of two sisters."  
 
"We could not accept brutal death of Hridoy . . . I want justice for my son's murder," he said.