Bones shattered, flesh obliterated: The tale of maimed revolutionaries
From 17 July to 18 August this year, the NITOR emergency department treated 693 patients who were injured during the student movement, which later evolved into a mass uprising. On 14 August, we met some of these survivors at Casualty Ward 2
Md Mehedi Alam lay on the bed, semi-recumbent. His right leg, slightly elevated on a pillow, was a few centimetres taller than his left, due to the heavy layers of bandages. His face, unlike others we spoke to earlier, bore a blank expression.
Mehedi was shot on 18 July around the Brac University campus area. The bullet exited his leg, but it completely decimated his bone and flesh. Till 14 August, Mehedi had undergone six surgeries, with more upcoming.
His sister Dalia stood by him. "He cries and says I gave Ma my word that within two years I will build a house, I will become something," she said. "I tell him there are so many people who live with one leg. You too will stand on your feet."
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On that fateful day, Mehedi went to meet his friends (some students, some job holders) around the Brac campus area. "There was absolutely no kind of violence, the students were only gathered there [around 9pm] to block the road," recalled Mehedi. He was on the main road, connecting Rampura to Badda, with a large crowd.
But soon and suddenly, BGB vehicles came into view. "We were doing absolutely nothing," he reiterated. They started firing.
"At first I was taken to Delta Hospital [in Rampura]. I remember there were others there — injured and brought in from the same area or surrounding ones," the 26-year-old Badda resident said.
Then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and finally, the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) in Agargaon. During admission, Mehedi's age was recorded as 28.
Mehedi used to work as a day labourer in the Gulshan area about a month ago. Now the pain is so chronic that Mehedi requires a minimum of three suppository pills daily to manage it.
In a family of seven (one widowed elderly mother and six siblings), Mehedi started working early on to support them. "Since he was 15; actually he started from even earlier," said Dalia.
From 17 July to 18 August this year, the NITOR emergency department has treated 693 patients injured in connection with the student movement. And five out of the 693 have died from their injuries, according to Dr Md Badiuzzaman, the deputy director of NITOR.
The hospital has yet to prepare a list to compile only the gunshot victims.
On 14 August, when we arrived at NITOR's Casualty Ward 2, it had 56 patients admitted — most, if not all, were gunshot victims. On 11 August, the ward saw its first death; and according to hospital documents, among the 56 admitted patients, 10 were students and 46 were "others".
"All the four casualty wards and even a section on one of the floors are filled with gunshot victims," a hospital staff said.
Everyone joined the student movement
Md Munir Hossain was shot from a helicopter on 20 July in Gazipur Chowrasta. "By the time I was hit, about 3-4 helicopters were whirring by. I remember one was shooting. There were about 15-20 policemen firing on the ground."
Munir is a garment worker. "There were around 200-300 people. We all joined [the protest]," he recalled.
The bullet went through both of Munir's legs. "At first, I was taken to City Medical College and Hospital [Gazipur] and then Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital," he said.
"I started running after my injured husband [along with my brother] when it happened and heard the news," recalled Munir's wife Fatema Akter, "since the helicopters were shooting, everyone told me to leave behind my child. But I did not want to separate."
Munir's rented tinshed house fortunately is very close to his workplace in Gazipur. Fatema left her 2.5 year old behind with a neighbour.
But neither facility had the equipment to treat Munir's injuries. By ambulance, which was paid for through crowdfunding, Munir's plastered legs arrived at NITOR on 21 July morning.
Munir's left leg is heavily bandaged, while the right leg has intramedullary rods sticking out, with minimal bandaging. When he arrived at NITOR, after an X-ray, he was immediately taken away to the operating theatre (OT).
On 8 August, he went to the OT again and then once more on 13 August. "Once, it was to place the rods to keep the bones straight and another time to cut off the flesh sticking out. And they shortened one of my legs; they could not find enough bone [for reconstruction]," he explained.
What is the doctor's prognosis? "He can walk like before, but it [recovery] will take time."
Currently, at NITOR, 142 people remain under treatment, with 12 requiring limb amputations, according to NITOR's Dr Md Badiuzzaman.
"We have had more than 293 patients that had either bullet, splinter or pellet injuries. Out of them, 90 patients had bullet wounds and the rest had injuries from splinters and pellets. Their ages range mostly from 16-30, very few patients were 30-40 years of age or beyond," said Sahidur Rahman Khan, NITOR's senior consultant at the orthopaedic and trauma surgery department.
He continued, "We had to amputate the legs of six patients and the hands of two. I myself worked on more than 30 patients. Right now, we have 142 patients admitted to our hospital."
On 21 July, 21-year-old Md Rayhan got shot in the evening in the Mohammadpur area. The bullet exited through his upper right thigh area.
"I saw two people shot dead by the police. One in the chest and one in the head," Rayhad said, "it was the police who shot. There were Chhatra League men as well."
His narration bore an eerie and deadly plot. It sounded like a battleground, with thousands of protestors (this included older people, students and young people who are currently not enrolled in any institution) facing off the government forces who used brutal force, with ease, to curtail the "clash."
The dropout student who works as a painter in the city and lives in a mess with his father took to the streets earlier in the afternoon. But it was at night around 9 pm when he joined others and chased off the police that he got shot.
"I heard the news shortly after," said his mother, standing by his hospital bed. "I cried and immediately recharged my phone."
Rayhan's father was at their hometown in Bhola with an ailing grandmother. "His friend called me. They said they dropped him off at the hospital and crowdfunded Tk3,000 for him and left. I told them that his uncle, aunt, etc are in the city," recounted Rayhan's mother.
"But the caller said, 'You all should come'."
Rayhan had his third surgery on 17 August. The previous two were to repair the injury requiring three bags of blood while the third meant placing a "ring" in his thigh. "When I was shot, I heard the noise from behind. I remember I could place my right leg in front, but the left. I could not move. I did not have the strength for it."
Previously, Rayhan wanted to go abroad but now he is unsure if he would ever regain physical strength to do so. He also lamented, "my grandmother could not see me." She passed away in Bhola three days after Rayhan was shot.
On 19 July, 22-year-old Mohammad Kawsar Khondker was shot in the leg. He had come to Dhaka only 12 days prior. Kawsar, enrolled in Betagi Government College in his home district Barguna, comes to the capital for work to support his family.
Kawsar wasn't involved in the protest; he was simply returning home from work when he was caught in the crossfire. A bullet pierced through his right leg, shattering the bone and tearing through major arteries before it exited.
Before being admitted into the NITOR, he was initially taken to Mugda Hospital and then NICVD. "This is a very high price to pay for being a citizen in this country. For coming to Dhaka for a job that pays only Tk2,500," he said.
Kawsar shared that around Tk90,000 has been spent on treatment so far. He also mentioned the exploitation of the ambulance drivers.
"A chunk of money has been spent on ambulance fare. The drivers exploit our vulnerability. The distance from NITOR to NICVD is barely two minutes by car, yet they have the nerve to demand Tk2,000 to Tk3,000 for that short ride. When my family tried to negotiate, they flatly refused, saying, 'Take it or leave it, find another ambulance if you can.'," he shared, frustrated.
On 19 July, Mohammad Shahadat Hossain Khan joined the protests. And, on 4 August, the 32-year-old paint worker was in a rally which advanced from Shahbag to Farmgate. Near the Karwan Bazar area, police started firing.
Amid the chaos, a 15-year-old protestor, who was with Shahadat, got shot in the eye. The eye popped out of the socket immediately. Everyone tried to seek shelter.
"I couldn't just abandon the kid on the road, even with bullets flying all around. It was chaos, gunfire echoing from every direction. A few other students and I grabbed a banner, trying to use it as a makeshift shield. We did whatever we could to get that child to safety," he recounted.
The tension of the moment still lingered in his voice.
Shahadat got the young protester on a rickshaw. But, just after, he was shot twice in his leg and collapsed. Then, a few Dhaka University students rescued Shahadat by a van and took him to BIRDEM.
Eventually, he was transferred to NITOR.
"Anarchy was everywhere. When I was brought to NITOR, an Ansar officer working in this hospital threatened me, 'How dare you join the protest. You aren't even a student. You thought you would take down the government? Not even God can do it'," he recalled.
Despite everything he's been through, Shahadat remains a wellspring of positive energy. His courage is so infectious that it uplifted the entire family from Madaripur; now, they all speak with the same spirit.
After hearing about his elder son, Shahadat's father walked all the way from Madaripur to NITOR on 5 August to meet Shahadat, who said, "If my country needs me again, I will be on the roads immediately, even with the bullets in my leg. I was not born a coward."
Shahadat still has the bullets inside. As his leg bone broke into pieces, the doctors advised him to give some time for the bone and tissues to heal before operating.
"A bullet can actually remain inside the body if it isn't posing a threat to nearby organs. In fact, sometimes the risk of removing the bullet outweighs the danger of leaving it in," explained Dr Tapash Kumar Talukdar, orthopaedic surgeon at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, Bogura
'Call me Sangeet Shilpi Arif'
In NITOR's Casualty Ward 2, Arif Shilpi, a 20-year-old from Cumilla was wearing the black shirt that he wore on 5 August when he was shot. "Did you see the video of the man who was shot by the police? Rangpur's Abu Sayeed?" he asked. "When I first saw it, I cried. I had goosebumps. It moved me."
On 5 August, Arif took to the streets for the first time to join the movement. "People were crowding the Titas Police Station [in Cumilla] for a takeover," he said, as if this had happened a few minutes ago.
When the protestors pushed in through the gate, police started shooting. "The government was not our government. This I know. Or else, they would have charged at us with batons, not guns," Arif said, adding, "Some even shot while hiding behind cover. Cowards! They used shotguns!"
Arif still feels very strongly about the government and believes Bangladesh had to be liberated, that the people had reached a point of revolt or death.
"I woke up [on 5 August] thinking I will take to the streets. I prayed, ate and left after Zuhr prayers," he recalled.
"Three people were shot dead, two died in front of me."
Arif works at a grocery shop in Cumilla to support his family of a disabled father, a frail and frequently sick mother and a young sister. "I was going to war, I had to, and I knew it. Can you show her the white pants from that day?" he asks his mother. She pulled out a pair of stained white pants from a bag. A proud souvenir for this aspiring singer.
"I intend to restart my Facebook page [where he posted songs] when I get better. Please be sure to share it on social media a lot."
Treatment at NITOR is essentially free. And still, Arif's family had already spent Tk50,000 on his treatment. "The ambulance alone cost us Tk10,000," they said. "It would have been Tk5,000, but we couldn't get hold of anyone else. So we had to pay the [inflated] price."
'The bullet was very powerful'
Among those we met on Wednesday at NITOR's Casualty Ward 2, Mohammad Sifat was the youngest of tender age 14. He studies in class eight at Pallabi Mazedul Islam Model High School.
Sifat joined the protest on 18 July with his friends in the Mirpur 10 roundabout. And, around 9.30 pm, the police and Chhatra League men started to chase and shoot at them.
A bullet penetrated from the back of his knee and came out from the front. Sifat said he was one of the first who got shot. Rescued by two Chhatra Dal (the student wing of BNP) leaders, Sifat was first taken to Alok Hospital in Mirpur. Later, he was admitted to NITOR.
Doctors said it is going to take him many months, if not years to recover. "His father is a cancer patient. He also lost one of his legs from cancer. We don't want another one [amputee] in the family," said Sifat's grandmother.
