35 July: Marching with martyrs’ bodies at Dhaka University
On 4 August at the Dhaka University campus, protesters, drenched in sweat, blood and tears, carried the bodies of the martyrs on their shoulders, fearlessly chanting slogans demanding Sheikh Hasina’s trial
Ismail Hossain Rabbi's slightly oval face narrowed at the chin. With a unibrow, bushy, wavy hair, a sparse beard that looks like untamed grass, and proud deep eyes, Rabbi embodied a classic Bangladeshi teenager.
But now, both his eyes were shut. Possibly a 7.62x39 mm bullet, fired from afar, symmetrically pierced the middle of his forehead. The bullet shattered the back of his skull as it exited. The fresh blood that had splattered across his face was beginning to clot and dry.
Surrounding his body at Shaheed Minar in the University of Dhaka were hundreds of protesters, crying and chanting, "We will not let our brother's blood go in vain." Meanwhile, more bodies were laid at the altar.
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The number of protesters swelled from hundreds to thousands, and the entire area pulsed with screams and rage as they gathered around the four who had been killed by forces loyal to the Sheikh Hasina regime.
It was 35 July in the calendar of uprising — 4 August, 2024 — a day after the one-point demand for Sheikh Hasina's resignation had been announced, and a day before she would flee to India.
After tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Dhaka and other parts of the country demanding Hasina's resignation, the day had turned into one of the most violent in the July uprising.
While reports of rampant killings across the country were flooding in, protesters at Shaheed Minar that afternoon, with four fallen comrades, were tearfully chanting slogans for the "hanging of Hasina" — perhaps one of the first public demands for her trial during the uprising.
The historic march
"We were all strangers at Shaheed Minar at that point. None of us knew the martyrs laid on the altar, but we screamed as if our own brothers had been killed," said Abu Toyab Habildar, a former student leader of Dhaka University who led the protesters at Shaheed Minar on 4 August.
"I was tending to the dead bodies there. When I began praying for them aloud, everyone joined in. People wept like they had never wept before. In that prayer, we prayed for the downfall of Sheikh Hasina," Habildar recalled. "I saw fervent wailing and lamentation of our people that day. But I also saw their inner power."
On 5 August, although Sheikh Hasina had fled to India by the time Mim and her family found Rabbi's body, she said the hospital officials did not cooperate. The family were told to bring the police from the location where he was shot to complete the paperwork, which was clearly impossible that day.
By the time the prayer ended, a few thousand people had gathered at the Shaheed Minar. It was late in the afternoon.
Habildar announced a march toward Ganabhaban with the martyrs' bodies.
At that moment, Dhaka University campus embarked on a new chapter in history. The protesters, drenched in sweat, blood and tears, carried the martyrs on their shoulders, fearlessly chanting slogans demanding Sheikh Hasina's trial.
A video went viral on the same day, showing protesters carrying the martyrs while chanting, "We want Sheikh Hasina to be hanged" and "We will not let our brother's blood be shed in vain."
The crowd was diverse — some were elderly, some in school uniforms, alongside women and bearded men.
Habildar could be seen at the front of the march, wearing a brown T-shirt.
"We reached Shahbag through TSC in the evening, and soon after, the police began firing at us indiscriminately from Shahbag police station," Habildar said. "Given the scale of the shooting, I suspect more people were killed right then. I saw people getting hit by bullets in Shahbag that evening."
March dispersed; dead bodies taken by police
The viral clip from the march sent a shiver through the nation, further overwhelming an already burdened and enraged population. "We read about Asad's bloodstained shirt in history books, and now we are witnessing [a similar history]," one person commented on the viral video shared on the BUETian Facebook page.
Many shared with us how this clip of the rally, with four martyrs, was both terrifying to watch and inspiring — showing the people's unwavering resolve to topple an autocrat.
SK Rased, a leader of Gono Odhikar Parishad, was among the protesters that day.
"Men, women, children… it was a rally where everyone came together, filled with rage and marched towards Ganabhaban 'come what may' in the way," Rashed said. "But in the face of bullets pouring in from Shahbag police station, it was impossible to keep going."
And so, the crowd dispersed.
Habildar and Rashed took shelter in Birdem Hospital, where a security officer protected them from the police and Detective Branch (DB).
"When I went upstairs, I saw the police taking the martyrs' bodies from Shahbag Square. I tried to film it, but it was dark, and the police were still firing indiscriminately. It was too risky to record the whole thing," Rashed said.
Habildar told us that police had left all the dead bodies in Shaheed Minar the entire night.
Who were the martyrs?
On that day at the Shaheed Minar altar, Habildar could identify only one martyr — Nazmul, a rickshaw puller. "He used to sing revolutionary songs, and people around the Press Club knew him," Habildar said.
He showed us a video clip of Nazmul singing for a YouTube channel, sitting on his rickshaw under a metro station. The song was about how rising prices of essentials were pushing people to the brink.
"We looked for what happened to his body but didn't get any clues," Habildar said. The Business Standard, however, could not independently verify Nazmul was among the four martyrs that day.
Habildar also could not identify Ismail Hossain Rabbi until his elder sisters, Mim and Mitu, met him a few days later. The sisters found his body at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue and identified Rabbi from the videos of the procession.
"Except Shahid Rabbi, we couldn't learn what happened to the other bodies. We looked for the burial spots of the three other bodies at many offices, but they didn't give us any information," Habildar said.
Two sisters march with their brother's body
On 4 August, Mim and her family had locked in her brother, Ismail Hossain Rabbi, at their home. He was only 16 years and eight months old, but had been actively participating in the July uprising from the start.
The family had brought him home to Sayedabad from Shariatpur, where he was a polytechnic student, sensing that his protest activities there were putting him at too much risk.
"But he defied us in Dhaka too. He joined every protest and came back injured on several days. That's why we locked him in on 4 August when we went out," Mim said.
However, Rabbi outsmarted them, breaking out of the house. A neighbour last saw him in Gulistan, heading towards Shahbag, around noon. The next day, the family found him in the morgue at DMCH.
"They shot him with an intent to kill," Mim said. "How else could the bullet have pierced him right in the middle of his forehead?"
We consulted with military personnel to discuss the nature of the bullet that struck Rabbi's forehead. While noting that a forensic test is required for certainty, they identified it as a 7.62x39 mm bullet. One expert, observing the nature of the wound, said, "It was likely fired from a distance of 70-100 metres."
On 5 August, although Sheikh Hasina had fled to India by the time Mim and her family found Rabbi's body, she said the hospital officials did not cooperate. The family were told to bring the police from the location where he was shot to complete the paperwork, which was clearly impossible that day.
However, later in the afternoon, some students broke into the morgue and took Rabbi's body out. But as they did not receive a death certificate from the hospital, Shahid Rabbi has yet to be listed in the official record of martyrs. But Interim Government Adviser Nahid has promised to resolve the issue.
After the two sisters got their brother's body, overwhelmed with grief and rage, Mim and Mitu began marching with their brother's body, chanting at the top of their lungs, "We want Sheikh Hasina's trial."
