TDS Desk:

The tiny front yard is crowded with mourning relatives and neighbors. The family members are wailing and the neighbors lamenting. Amid this heavy silence sits Roksana Begum, the mother of 17-year-old Imon Talukder, who was killed on Wednesday during the clashes centering the National Citizen Party (NCP) rally in Gopalganj.

Imon was the son of Azad Talukder from Bherar Bazar village in Gopalganj Sadar upazila. Visiting the family on Thursday morning, one finds the house steeped in grief. Roksana Begum, numb with sorrow, hasn’t spoken a single word since losing her son. People are trying to console her—some ending up in tears themselves. Yet, Imon’s mother remains silent, her eyes blank with pain.

Imon’s cousin, Rana Bhuiyan, choked up as he said, “Why did they have to kill my brother? He begged for his life. Even then, they didn’t spare him. We saw it all in the video—how they gunned him down and then beat him to death in the neighborhood. How are we supposed to bear this?”

Neighbor Raju Talukder shared more about the family of Imon. They were five siblings—two sisters and three brothers. The eldest brother is ill. One sister is married. The younger sister and brother are still studying—and it was Imon who paid for their education. His father is sick and occasionally drives a van to keep the household running. But after hearing of his son’s death, the father lost his mind. He didn’t even attend the funeral. No one knows where he went after leaving home.

Finally, Roksana Begum broke her silence, sobbing, “There’s no one left to save my family. My son is gone, and his father has gone mad and disappeared. It was my son who held this family together. Now with my four or five children, I have no way to survive. No way to live. The way they killed my son in public—shot and beaten—I demand justice.”

According to family members, Imon used to work at Munshi Crockeries in Gopalganj town. On Wednesday morning, like any other day, he went to work. Around 11:00am, the shop owner gave him Taka 150 and told him to head home. But instead of going home, Imon ended up at the site of the clashes.

Locals rushed him to Gopalganj 250-bed General Hospital after he was shot. Following legal procedures, he was buried this morning at the Gopalganj Gatepara municipal graveyard at around 7:30am.