Death of a dream
A bright student, Ariful Islam Sajal aspired to be an engineer. His impoverished family had high hopes from him.
He was resolutely working his way towards the goal. He obtained GPA 5 in both Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations and was an HSC second-year student at Mohammadpur Government College.
“Our hopes and dreams have been crushed,” in tears, Sajal’s mother Shilpi Begum told The Daily Star yesterday.
On Tuesday evening, Sajal went out of their home; around 9pm the family came to know that he was killed.
Police said Sajal and his friend Sanjida Akter Dolon were in Rayerbazar Dhal area around 8:45pm when some youths started sexually harassing Dolon. As Sajal protested, three of the four harassers left the area.
Sajal slapped the remaining harasser and the latter called his friends over phone. Eight to 10 youths reached the spot right away and indiscriminately beat Sajal with bamboo sticks and sharp weapons, police added.
A critically injured Sajal was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he died.
Sajal’s mother said her husband Shahidul Islam works as a salesman at a fabric store in Islampur in old Dhaka. The family struggles to make ends meet. Bearing educational expenses of their two sons and a daughter is difficult, Sajal’s mother said.
Sajal was second among his siblings.
“He used to comfort me, saying that one day he will be an engineer and we won’t have to endure financial hardship any more,” Shilpi Begum lamented at their home in Hazaribagh.
The family -- originally from Bakerganj in Barishal -- yesterday buried Sajal at the city’s Azimpur graveyard.
As of 7pm yesterday, no case was filed in connection with Sajal’s death. Police could not arrest any of the culprits till that time.
Hazaribagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ikram Ali Miah said they started a drive on Tuesday night to arrest the killers.
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