A ghastly birthday gift

Editor's note: This article was first published in the print edition of The Business Standard on 24 July 2024. It was reported at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on 21 July, the day a nationwide curfew with shoot-on-sight orders was imposed during Bangladesh's student-led quota reform uprising. A government-ordered internet blackout, in effect from 18 July, prevented all online publication; the story ran only in print. It is being archived here for the public record.

Bablu, aged 28, was shot by police in Bhuigarh, Narayanganj, on 21 July. He was brought to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) around 1 pm. It was 8pm when I met him, and he was yet to get a seat. 

He was hungry, angry and in pain. The day was certainly not good. But 10 years back, 21 July was more than a good day for him. The best gift of his life – his daughter – was born on that day.

She is all he has, as his wife left him three years ago. His daughter wanted a cake on her birthday. So Bablu went out with his auto rickshaw, which he drives on a daily basis on rent, defying the countrywide curfew. 

At around 12, a commotion from the Signboard, Narayanganj, erupted. He was near the Bhuigarh area in his auto rickshaw. 

"They [police] came from Signboard, firing. I was sitting on my auto," he recalled. "I tried to turn my auto around, but before I could do that, a bullet hit my auto and another hit my leg." 

He fell off the auto as the bullet hit just below the knee.  

"I could not understand what had happened. For a moment my body felt extremely light." 

A tea seller came to help. Then a few more people joined him. They took him aside and found his phone in the folds of his lungi.

"A local snack store owner called my father and let us know about the incident," said Masum, Bablu's 20-year-old younger brother, who was attending to him at DMCH's casualty room.

Masum, who is an apprentice at an automobile workshop, is the youngest of three siblings. They have a sister who is married to a vegetable seller. Bablu's father and brother raced to see him in hospital. His father himself is not well, as he is suffering from some undiagnosed condition. He doesn't have enough energy to do work or bear any physical labour. 

Bablu needed blood but it hadn't been managed yet. DMCH was short of blood and they didn't know who to contact for emergency blood. They logged their name in the blood demand list at the makeshift blood donation camp outside the emergency gate.  

The doctor said the bullet broke his bone and he needed metal implants. "Whoever shot me won't bear my medical expense, nor will the government. Now I will have to bear it by taking loans," said Bablu.

Masum knows he cannot take responsibility for the family. He sits clueless with a blank stare on his face. "What can we do? Nothing is in our hands. I ran as soon as I heard the news. My ostad (trainer) from the workshop also accompanied me." 

Bablu is also worried about all the medical expenses that will come with this. 

"I don't have any relatives who can support me financially. The person whose auto rickshaw I drive came and helped me with the expenses for now, which I have to repay later." 

Bablu usually earns Tk500-600 a day with which he maintains the family expenditure. It was never enough to start. This is why his wife left him. 

"While I was not earning enough for my own family, I had to take responsibility for my siblings and parents. My wife did not approve of it, therefore she left," said Bablu, who got married at a very early age - when he was only 15. 

His father used to pull rickshaws and is now retired because he is physically unfit. Bablu is now the lone hope of the entire family, including his daughter. "I don't know when I will be able to get back to work. I am thinking of my daughter. She has been crying all day."

His 10-year-old daughter, Babli, called, and was crying for her father. The girl studies at a madrasa in Rayerbagh.  

"I don't need a cake, I need you to get well and come home," said the daughter over the phone