During the anti-discrimination student movement, Mirajul Islam Arnab (23) was shot dead by RAB in Basila, Mohammadpur, in the capital on July 19, 2024. He was first shot in the leg and then in the chest. His last words in a trembling voice before his death were - 'O Allah, please save me. Who will look after my parents if I die? I love my parents very much. Huzur taught me the Kalima, taught me repentance. I want to drink water, give me water.' Arnab collapsed in the arms of death immediately after that.
Arnab's village home is in Sureshwar village in Naria upazila of Shariatpur. However, he was born and raised in Dhaka. Arnab is the youngest of the three children of Abu Taleb and Sahida Begum. The two elder daughters are married. They had also decided on a bride to marry Arnab. But with his death, all their dreams ended.
According to family sources, Arnab, after passing his HSC from Donia College in the capital, took a job at Fakirapool Travel Agency to help support his family. After the anti-discrimination student movement began in July, he would join the movement whenever he had time without informing his family.
Since Arnab's death, his father Abu Taleb (54) has been lying in bed with a stroke in grief for his son. He cannot forget his son in any way. Speaking to Amar Desh, Arnab's mother Sahida Begum (52) said in a tearful voice, 'I gave him rice at 11 am on Friday, July 19. The house we lived in was next to the RAB-2 office in Basila. There had been a clash between the law enforcement agencies and the students on the main road in front of the house since that morning. Arnab was at home at that time.'
Sahida Begum said, "My son never went to any processions or meetings. After Friday prayers on July 19, he came home with a student living on the third floor of our house and ate rice. Later, he left the house with that boy. I called him to find out where he had gone to pray Asr prayers."
Later, at 5:40 PM, we talked again. When I asked him to come back home, he said, I am near home. That afternoon, the movement intensified after a boy was shot dead. Arnab also joined the movement. When I was about to stand up to offer Maghrib prayers, the boy who was with Arnab told me that Arnab had been shot. I thought maybe he had been shot in the hand or leg, it wouldn't matter.
But later I found out that RAB first shot him in the leg, then in the chest. Arnab fell to the ground as soon as he was shot. The boy who was with him took him to a local mosque. He had offered Friday prayers in that mosque. After taking him to the mosque, Huzoor taught Arnab the Kalima and Taubah.
At that time, Arnab was bleeding from his chest and back. As his physical condition continued to deteriorate, he was taken to two private hospitals in a van and, after failing to get admitted, was taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. Arnab died there at around 6:40 pm. His body was then taken to the Rayerbazar Intellectual Graveyard and buried the next day.
Sahida Begum said in a tearful voice, "Arnab was the only earning member of my family. Who will look after our family now? I want justice for my son's murder." Arnab's ailing father Abu Taleb said, "I returned from Italy for my son, hoping to take him to the village to do business. However, my son wanted him to stay in Dhaka. I have become destitute after losing my only son. I cannot even see a doctor due to financial crisis. He has sought financial assistance from the government."
When asked whether they had filed a case for the murder of their son, Arnab's parents said that they did not see who shot him. That is why they have filed a case against an unknown accused. They have demanded that a proper investigation into Arnab's murder be conducted and the culprits be given the maximum punishment.
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