Tragic death of Ahad

Ahad, aged 4, who was shot in the eye,

was carried by his father to the emergency

gate of Dhaka Medical Hospital on July 19, 2024.

On that day, while I was taking photos of the protest in the Paltan area, I found out that my former colleague, AR Sumon a photojournalist, had been injured in police firing and was being treated at Dhaka Medical Hospital. When I went to see him in the X-ray room, he told me that he was fine and not to worry about him.

After a while, I lost consciousness and saw people all around me covered in blood. Someone was coming into the hospital with bandages on their head, stomach, eyes, and back. There were sounds of screaming and crying all around. A cleaner in front of me was wiping the blood off the floor. It felt like a scene from a movie; no sane person could stand there for long.

After some time, the injured people arrived in an ambulance and were rushed into the emergency room on stretchers. Suddenly, a man emerged from a CNG-run auto-rickshaw carrying a crying baby and made his way toward the emergency room. I noticed blood coming out of the child’s eyes and realized what had happened to the child. The hospital staff asked for the child’s name and age. The man, crying and shouting, said, “My child is on the balcony; his name is Ahad, and he is 4 years old.”

Ahad died on July 20 in Dhaka Medical Hospital while undergoing treatment. A bullet had struck Ahad in the eye and lodged in his head. This incident took place on the evening of July 19, at a house in Rayerbagh of Jatrabari, Dhaka.

Photo: Parvez Ahmad Rony/Drik