Not an inch of his body spared
It was when they unclothed Nahid Hossain's dead body for post mortem examination that the morgue staff realised how horrifyingly he had been beaten to death by the sparring Dhaka College students and the New Market shopkeepers.
So numerous were the bruises that they created a criss-cross hatch pattern all over his body, from head to toe.
There was not an unscathed inch left; it would have taken several hours just to count the welts, according to morgue officials present.
And his fault: he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Hearing the news of the heated altercation between the two parties, his family had asked him not to go to work that day.
They live in Kamrangirchar, and Nahid's workplace is on Elephant Road: to reach his office, he must cross the battlefield that the New Market area had turned into on Tuesday.
His family had told him that he cannot reach Elephant Road but Nahid was adamant. He said he was being called by his office in Elephant Road and he must go.
As a daily-rated deliveryman by profession, a missed day's work means a day's pay lost for Nahid Hossain, something he could ill afford.
"He had missed many days of work during the pandemic and did not want to skip work," said Dolly, his wife of six months.
The two were compelled to get married after family members caught wind of their romance.
His father Nadim Hossain said that Nahid used to walk to work every day just to save on the commute fare. "He was a good boy. He gave Tk 10,000 to the family each month."
His family spent the entire Tuesday thinking he was out at work.
In reality, Nahid had been lying on the street, when a bystander spotted him amidst the stampede and rushed him to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital at noon. It is unknown how long he had been lying on the road.
He died at night while receiving treatment.
Yesterday, as the skies poured and a nor'wester raged outside the morgue, his wife Dolly waited to receive his body.
As she opened her hand, the henna pattern on her palm caught the eye: the words "I Love You Nahid" was written in disjointed cursive.
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