Nafis's body hangs horizontally on the footboard of the rickshaw. On one side, a head wrapped in the national flag dangles in the air, and on the other side, two bullet-riddled, lifeless legs hang down. A rickshaw driver is pedaling away with Nafis. Each time this scene comes to mind, tears fill my eyes.

Nafis was still alive then. The police had tried to dump the injured, bullet-riddled Nafis into a manhole piece by piece and even attempted to burn him. Ultimately, this rickshaw driver defied the police's threatening demeanor and tried to save Nafis.

Nafis had just passed his SSC from Banani Bidyaniketan School and College. He was only 17. At such a young age, he made such a great sacrifice.

On the morning of August 4, Nafis joined the movement at Farmgate via Shahbag. Around 1:30 PM, he called his mother for the last time to let her know he was safe. His mother urged him to come home quickly. As time passed, Nafis's mother could find no trace of him. She couldn’t connect with him on his mobile. By evening, his father went out to search for his son. After searching from Shahbag to Farmgate and from hospital to hospital without finding any trace of him, he returned home around midnight. Meanwhile, the heartbreaking image of Nafis went viral on Facebook. His sister showed the picture to their father. From there, they could identify Nafis. After failing to find him in various hospitals' morgues, Nafis's father rushed to the office of the newspaper Manabzamin to speak with the photographer of that photo. While at the Manabzamin office, his brother-in-law (Nafis’s uncle) called to inform him that Nafis's body had been found in the morgue of Suhrawardy Medical College.

To explain what happened to Nafis that day, I recount the account of this rickshaw driver, Mohammad Noor Mohammad, who rescued Nafis from the police and took him to the hospital.

That day, after dropping off a passenger at 27, he was heading towards Farmgate from in front of the parliament. He noticed a fight at the corner of the road near the parliament and decided to take the wrong side to bypass it and proceed to Farmgate. In the meantime, he picked up a passenger from Mogbazar. As he was about to pass the Farmgate police box, he noticed that bullets were raining down like rain. The police stopped him in front of Science College, pulling him forward. He then said, “Why would I go towards the gunfire?” The police shouted back, “I told you to come here.” Saying this, they grabbed him and pulled him along. He started reciting prayers. Only Allah knows what fate awaited him.

After being pulled forward, they told him to put someone in the rickshaw. Mohammad Noor Mohammad (the rickshaw driver) asked, “Who should I put in?”

Then he saw something plastic and a piece of a body next to him, and he asked, “Should I pick this up?” He then realized that a bullet-riddled body was lying curled up beside him. The police shouted at him, “Hey kid, can’t you see I’m hiding a corpse? Just pick it up.” The police started cursing.

Noor Mohammad then took hold of Nafis's back side gently. The police grabbed his two legs and carelessly tossed them onto the footboard of the rickshaw.

After tossing him in the vehicle, they said, “Shoot him two more times. He might survive.” They pointed and cursed at the rickshaw driver, saying, “Shoot that bastard in the legs.” Seeing that Nafis was falling as the rickshaw was moving, another police officer nearby said, “Hold him up.” (According to the driver, this police officer was somewhat humane.) The rickshaw driver noticed that Nafis’s hand was getting caught in the chain, so he pulled his hand and hung it on the rod. The rickshaw driver tried to take him to Al Rajhi. Nafis might have been saved then. But the police cursed him, saying, “Take him to Suhrawardy or Dhaka Medical.” Despite the police's obstruction, the rickshaw driver pulled the rickshaw towards Al Rajhi. At that time, no one came to stop him. Facing resistance from the student and youth leagues, he turned back and went to Chikhu Hospital. There, the army approached and said he needed to be taken to emergency care. Two or three people lifted him into an auto. He was taken to Suhrawardy. By then, our Nafis had departed from this world, and his name was added to the list of martyrs.

According to the rickshaw driver, the police initially tried to throw him into the manhole in pieces but couldn’t find a cover nearby. Then they said, “Just leave him.” The rickshaw driver was standing nearby. As he was lifting the body, the journalist from Manabzamin, who was taking pictures, was also cursed at, with the police saying, “Shut off your camera. I’ll burn you along with your camera.”

Nafis and others like him will never be erased from our memories. As long as this police force exists, we will look at them with hatred. They have ruthlessly killed our brothers, friends, and classmates; how can we ever forgive them?

Content courtesy: The Daily Star