Was shooting at them the only option?

Like every morning, Nargis Parvin made sure to tell her husband Jalal Uddin to stay safe when he would leave for work.

As his workplace -- Islam Garments in Gazipur's Konabari -- became a dangerous place to be due to the ongoing workers' protests and clashes with police, Nargis was more worried than usual.

A supervisor of the factory, Jalal tried to stay away from troubles.

When chaos erupted near the factory on November 8, prompting the authorities to shutter the factory and call the police, he tried to leave the area to get back home to his wife and only daughter as soon as he could.

He could only just try.

Today, Jalal's body lies lifeless, surrounded by mourning friends and family in his village home in Netrakona.

"Why did they [cops] shoot? Couldn't they disperse the workers in any other way? They used pellet guns and my husband's abdomen was completely scarred with wounds!" cried Nargis, as she sat dazed and confused in front of the morgue at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Jalal Uddin was shot with pellets multiple times as police targeted agitating RMG workers in front of the factory. He died from his injuries early yesterday while being treated at the ICU of DMCH.

Nargis could not stop wailing, even in the company of her seven-year-old daughter Jannatul Bakia Mariyam, who was too young to understand what had happened.

"I want to go to baba. What happened to him, ma? Has he died?" the child kept asking, seeing her mother break down.

Jalal's abdominal region had scars from at least 60 pellets lodged inside. There were more on the other parts of his body.

"My husband was a supervisor. He didn't join the protests; neither was he a labour leader. Why did they shoot and kill him? Who will my daughter call 'baba' now?" Nargis, a school teacher in Konabari, cried out.

"Even before he went to the operation theatre, all he could talk about was our daughter. He said, 'Don't do anything that might hurt her' ... How can we [Nargis and Mariyam] live without him now?

"I want justice from the prime minister," she demanded.

Hailing from Netrakona's Kendua upazila, Jalal had seven siblings. His younger brother, Saiful Islam, returned home from Dubai yesterday morning, after getting the news of his brother's injury.

"I bought an emergency ticket to come see my brother. I couldn't get to see him alive…."

Jalal will be buried in his village graveyard around 10:00am today.

Anjuara Khatun, 28, was also shot the same day as Jalal, while she was demonstrating for a monthly minimum wage of Tk 23,000. She died that very day.

Including her and Jalal, at least 30 workers suffered injuries in the clash.

Just the day before, the minimum wage for RMG workers was fixed at Tk 12,500 -- much to the dismay of protesting workers and labour leaders.

Islam Garments, where Jalal and Anjuara worked, is owned by Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam.

Contacted, he said the incident took place in front of another factory in the area and the workers went there.

"The incident didn't occur on my factory premises, I won't take the responsibility."

Earlier, Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mahbub Alam said police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the agitating workers as they were vandalising the factories and throwing brick bats at law enforcers.

So far, three garment workers were killed in police firing since the unrest began on October 23.