Meet 12-year-old Shahriar and Afsar, Nitor’s youngest gunshot victims

Cornered and alone, Shahriar hid behind a pillar. A wave of relief came when he saw the policemen run out of bullets and head back into the station. Warily, he retraced his steps behind another pillar for cover. 

He then noticed the police with reloaded weapons. This time, he sat down. And before he could breathe easy, a voice from behind alerted him to look out.

Three policemen, at a distance of approximately 10 feet away, were staring him down. He heard the click – clear as day – as one policeman loaded the chamber of his shotgun.

"I couldn't understand what was happening. I tried to stand back up," remembered Shahriar. This was the moment when he was shot. He fell and held his leg over his chest.

Shahriar is 12 years old. 

Shahriar was an active participant in the student protests. On the day around 3:20 pm, he was at the front of a group out in the streets in a celebratory mood. "This was after we heard the news of Hasina's ouster," he said. 

Near the Model Police Station in Mirpur, the group saw a lot of chaos and unrest. "I looked back at one point and saw that the group [he was with] was engaged in a confrontation with the police," he said.  This is when Shahriar moved away instinctively to find some sort of shelter and wound up behind a pillar. 

After the police shooting, Shahriar eventually wound up at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR).

On 30 September, there were 77 victims (mostly of gunshot injuries and young) from the July uprising at NITOR – a sharp decline in the number of admitted patients in the hundreds in August.

Among the 30 patients in the hospital's Ward B, we met two of the youngest gunshot victims, Md Shahriar or Rashid and Afsar Hossain, both 12 years old. 

First rubber then metal 

The movement in Mirpur began in full force on 17 July, a day after Abu Sayeed's killing in Rangpur, sparking a nationwide outrage.

Police shot Shahriar with five rubber bullets. Shahriar returned home, asked for paracetamol from his mother faking exhaustion after a long day of football, and went to bed. There was no mention of the bullets in the house.

"Senior students in my area started joining [the protest]. I was adamant I would go with them. I saw a lot of people getting shot," Shahriar told The Business Standard on 20 September.

It was Black Friday on 19 July. The police were firing rubber bullets, shotgun pellets and sound grenades from the direction of the Model Police Station in Mirpur, and soon after, even helicopters fired shots. Police shot Shahriar with five rubber bullets.  

Shahriar returned home, asked for paracetamol from his mother faking exhaustion after a long day of football, and went to bed. There was no mention of the bullets in the house. 

He remembers well the stinging feeling of rubber bullets ripping into his skin. It wouldn't be until 4 August when he faced rubber bullets again. Chhatra League and other Awami League affiliated groups, along with the police, unleashed bloody violence. Shahriar was shot by three rubber bullets on the day. 

He chose to repeat the same routine — lie to his mother to step out, attend a violent and bloody student protest with older students, manage to return home in one piece and turn to bed. 

After the second stunt, his mother, unknowingly, warned him not to step out. "Maa wouldn't let me step out of the house that day [5 August], but I left to join the protests anyway," Shahriar recounted. When asked what drove him to keep joining the older students in protests, Shahriar smiled coyly.  

The distinct pain from the rubber bullets was nothing compared to that of the shotgun pellets. 

Luckily, students noticed Shahriar's bullet-hit tiny body sprawling on the Mirpur streets. "They picked me up and took me on a rickshaw to Al Helal Specialised Hospital. The doctors managed to stop the bleeding. But treatment could not be possible there."

He was taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR). "When they [doctors] opened the bandages, they saw a vein and my [left] kidney duct had torn," he said. 

He was referred to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) where he had two surgeries and remained in observation for two days then sent back to NITOR, "after doctors alerted us that my bones were shattered. Then I had to undergo three more surgeries," he said.

So far, Md Shahriar or Rashid, a sixth grader at Mirpur's Obhizatrik School – has undergone five surgeries. He is also a Mirpur resident, who lives with his working mother and a disabled father, who suffered a brain stroke four years ago. His parents are from Pabna.

Shahriar's only sibling – three-year-old brother Raiyan – lives at the hospital with Shahriar's mother. It has been over two months at NITOR – being treated for a gunshot injury to the left thigh. 

"I see all these victims being released from the hospital. But my son still has a long way to recover," said Shahriar's mother Sadia Akhter Rani. She is the family's breadwinner, who works as a tailor selling clothes.  

His mother said, "Not only do I have my son to care for, I also have a sick husband. I am at a loss how I would manage both their treatment." The doctors told them full recovery time would take about a year. 

Despite free treatment at the hospital, Shahriar's mother spent approximately Tk1 lakh on expenses, shifting between hospitals, etc in August. 

"I can't sleep at night. The wounds burn, itch and the pain is unbearable," Shahriar said. On 22 October, Shahriar was still admitted to the hospital and not much has changed,  according to Rani's monotone over a phone call. 

A stiff shoulder

In the same ward, Afsar Hossain is admitted. Like Shahriar, he is also 12 years old but his body is smaller. His injury is on the shoulder. On 5 August, he was shot by a live bullet at Azampur, Uttara around 4 pm. 

"I cannot tell you if it was the Chhatra League or the police," he told The Business Standard on 30 September. His voice sounded meek, his face looked much younger than 12, and his eyelashes were thick and long. 

On 20 September, Afsar was one of the several gunshot patients at NITOR who joined others to go meet Chief Adviser Dr Yunus. The objective was to draw the interim government's attention to their persistent struggles demanding fair and just treatment. "I met him," said Afsar, "he placed a hand on my shoulders." 

According to other attendants, after 20 September, high-profile doctors, including a Chinese team of specialists, visited their wards. 

Afsar's bandaged shoulder is perhaps the tiniest injury among the nearly 100 gunshot victims we have met since mid-August at the same hospital. 

"It went through here, and exited through there," said his mother Jasmine Akter, pointing at Afsar's x-ray — it tore through a joint. "The doctors told us he has to wait till he is 20 years old when surgery can repair the joint," she added. And till then? "Therapy," Afsar chimed in, however, for full movement, the surgery is needed. 

Afsar's younger brother is 8 years old. He also has three older sisters. "My husband is a disabled man at home who suffered a brain stroke," said Jasmine. 

On 5 August, Afsar was among older students at Azampur, Uttara. In the chaos, after he was shot, the students took him to the private Medical College for Women and Hospital, where he stayed overnight. 

The family arrived at NITOR at 6 am the following day. "They discharged us on 7 August. Only God can say how we managed treatment costs those days. My daughter, her husband and I sold our gold [ornaments] to bear the treatment costs." 

Afsar was re-admitted to NITOR on 20 August. Afsar underwent a procedure on 7 October to "take out the rod" placed inside his shoulder.  

Before the July protests started, Afsar came to Dhaka from his hometown in Noakhali to visit and stay with his sister. "My brother-in-law works in the area," added Afsar, a fourth grader at his hometown's Islamia Madrasah. 

On 19 October, Afsar was discharged from NITOR. "My house was affected by the floods as well but I was in Dhaka then," Jasmine said over the phone on 22 October. While mobility is still restricted, there has been a little improvement, according to Afsar and his mother — both now back home in Noakhali.