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Published : 05 Aug 2025, 03:45 AM
Parvin, a witness identified by a single name, saw a boy lying on the street with gunshot wounds while returning home from work in Dhaka during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement in July last year.
She tried to go forward to help him. But police kept firing at the boy.
The woman, who lost her left eye after being shot during that moment, was recounting her experience at the International Crimes Tribunal.
She testified on Monday before a three-member tribunal headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder.
It was the second day of witness hearings in a case accusing ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and others of crimes against humanity over the alleged suppression of student protests.
Parvin said the police fired at the boy so fiercely that it sounded like "popping parched rice". When she went to help, police fired at her too, hitting her left eye and causing blindness, with damage to her right eye.
Now eight months pregnant, Parvin appeared at the court accompanied by her husband.
She told the tribunal that during the unrest, she worked as a day labourer and had two sons. On Jul 18 last year, after finishing work in Jurain, she started walking home and found many injured people on the street near Jatrabari.
She described the scene: “There was blood everywhere. It looked like animals had been slaughtered. Some had lost hands or legs, others were bleeding from their heads.
“Under the Jatrabari flyover, a 18-19 year-old boy was badly wounded, crying for his life. He wore a white shirt and pants soaked in blood. Blood was flowing from his eyes."
Overwhelmed with pity, she rushed to help him. As she tried to lift him, the boy leaned his head on her shoulder and begged her to save him.
At that moment, about 14 to 15 armed police officers, according to Parvin, opened fire at the boy. “It sounded like tush-tush. I raised my left hand and begged them to stop shooting.
“A policeman fired a shot sideways that struck me directly in the eye.”
“Blood gushed from my eye like a fountain,” she said tearfully, recounting the moment when the boy gripped her hand one last time before letting go. She believes he died in her arms.
Parvin collapsed from the pain and blood loss.
Bystanders eventually helped her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but she said the medical staff did not provide proper care.
A kind stranger bought her a bottle of eye drops costing Tk 250, but she continued to vomit and writhe in pain on a hospital porch until someone called her husband, who was in Barishal at the time.
He arrived the next day at 10am. Doctors instructed him to buy supplies for her treatment, but he had no money.
He returned to their home in Jatrabari and sold Parvin’s gold earrings to buy medicine.
On his way back to the hospital, he was assaulted by unidentified individuals and required three stitches.
Parvin said she eventually underwent surgery, during which three bullets were removed from her left eye. Doctors informed her that more bullets remained lodged inside.
After keeping her in hospital for three or four days, she was referred to the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, where further tests including a CT scan confirmed the presence of additional fragments.
The following morning, doctors advised her to get admitted. The surgery, however, was not carried out immediately, she added.
“The surgery took place only after the country became free,” she told the tribunal, referring to the change in government.
“One more bullet was extracted from my eye during that operation.”
When the tribunal asked about the bullet wound in her lower abdomen, Parvin said it had not yet been operated on.
She told the tribunal that she appeared in court to seek justice.
Due to inadequate treatment, she said, her left eye is permanently blind, while vision in her right eye is severely impaired.
Parvin blamed ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina for her blindness.
“Sheikh Hasina is the mother and father of the police. They do not open fire without her orders,” she told the court. “On her command, the police shot and injured or killed thousands of people.”
She said her two sons are also demanding justice for their mother’s blindness.
“Sheikh Hasina must be brought to justice while this government is still in power,” she added. “If justice is not served, terrorism will only intensify.
“And if there is no proper accountability, future governments will follow the same path, thinking they too can kill without consequence -- because there is no justice.”
After her testimony, the accused’s lawyer Amir Hossain cross-examined her.
The tribunal’s Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim said the next witness is scheduled to appear Wednesday.
Earlier on Monday, Abdullah Al Imran, a master’s student at Dhaka College, gave his testimony.
On Sunday, Khokon Chandra Barman testified.
According to the prosecution, the case includes 81 witnesses, including two advisors to the caretaker government and the editor of a national daily.
So far, three witnesses have completed their testimony.
The ICT has charged Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, and others with five counts, including:
· Incitement to murder
· Provocation and orders to kill 1,400 protestors
· Superior command responsibility
· Joint criminal enterprise
Hasina and Asaduzzaman have been shown as fugitives in the case. Former IGP Mamun, who is currently in custody, has filed a plea to turn state witness.
