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Published : 05 Aug 2025, 01:49 PM
On Aug 5, 2024, after Sheikh Hasina had fled to India in the face of a student-led mass uprising, Baby Naznin joined a joyful procession in Naogaon. It was at this outpouring of relief that she received horrific news – her son was among those martyred in the deadly violence leading up to the moment.
Her son, 21-year-old Mahfuz Alam Srabon, was in Dhaka’s Mirpur that day. He was killed while trying to rescue students and members of the public shot by police in front of the Mirpur-2 Police Station.
Recalling that day, Naznin said: "Last Aug 5 I saw on TV that the dictator Hasina had fled the country. Upon hearing the news, I went to join the procession of joy.
"But, as I was at the procession, I learnt that, alongside Sheikh Hasina, my son was also gone for good. Upon hearing the news, I broke down in tears on the street."
A year later, the memory brought tears to her eyes once again.
Srabon hailed from Dogachhi village of Boalia Union in the Naogaon suburbs. He was the second of three sons born to Naznin and her husband, Mosharraf Hossain.
Mosharraf is a motor mechanic. Srabon used to live with his father in Naogaon’s Mohadevpur.
Srabon passed his Secondary School Certificate examinations in 2021 from Mohadevpur Sarbamangala Pilot High School and his Higher Secondary Certificate exams in 2024 from Raigaon Degree College in Mohadevpur. He then went to Dhaka to continue his education at a good college and university.
However, as his family struggled with finances, he worked part-time at a private company in Dhaka alongside pursuing his studies. He lived in a residential hall in the Milkvita area of Mirpur 1’s Section 6 road.
He became involved in the Anti-discrimination Student Movement protests, and regularly attended protests and demonstrations alongside others in the Mirpur-10 area.
On Aug 5 last year, his family says Srabon was initially at Mirpur-10 when news came that many people had been killed in police fire from the Model Police Station building in Mirpur No. 2.
Srabon went with a group of protesting students and members of the public to rescue them. Around 2:45pm, he was also shot and seriously injured. When locals took him to the hospital, the doctor declared him dead.
By then, Hasina had fled the country. Srabon’s mother had already joined the procession. But the tears she began to cry after hearing of his death have yet to stop.
Naznin said: "My son's dream was to become a good cricketer. If he couldn’t do that, he planned to get a job and restore the family's prosperity. He wanted to send his parents on their Hajj pilgrimages. But that dream will now remain just a dream."
She demanded that all the martyrs of the country, including Srabon, be given official recognition and called for justice for their murders.
Srabon’s brother Shafiqur Rahman Bappi said, "Along with a case filed in the tribunal regarding Srabon's murder, another case has been filed in the CMSS court by the family, accusing 400 people, including Sheikh Hasina."
Meanwhile, Students Against Discrimination (SAD) has renamed the roundabout at the Naohata intersection on the Naogaon-Rajshahi road as “Shaheed Mahfuz Chattar” in memory of Srabon.
Fazle Rabbi, a student leader of the SAD’s Naogaon unit, said that the rehabilitation of the martyr's family and the trial of the murderers must be completed quickly.
Mahbub Alam Sohag, a member of the National Citizen Party’s Naogaon unit, also demanded the rehabilitation of the martyr's family. He also demanded that a “Shaheed Srabon Chattar” be built at the Yadali intersection in the suburbs.
Srabon was among nine people killed and many others injured during the July Uprising.
In tribute to their memory, the Forest Department, BNP and the SAD have planted nine trees each at various places in the city, including Mukti Mor.
The district administration has said that assistance will continue to be provided for the rehabilitation of the martyrs’ families and the injured.
Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Abdul Awal said that the July Foundation has handed over Tk 500,000 and Tk 1 million in savings certificates to the martyrs’ families. Additional assistance, including health cards for the injured, is being processed.
