Amid a flurry of changing headlines, national attention has slowly turned away from the five people who were killed in a clash between locals, law enforcement agencies and armed forces centring the 16 July National Citizen Party rally in Gopalganj.
The dead were declared as Awami League activists or supporters, their demise a consequence of self-defence. Each of the deceased died from gunshot wounds.
News broke that the bodies were forcibly taken from hospital by families, who didn't allow for a crucial post-mortem procedure to be conducted.
This is a claim that families the Stream spoke to vehemently denied, although the victims' affiliations have been widely reported.
Five days after the deaths, on Monday (21 July), the bodies of three individuals were exhumed and sent to Gopalganj 250-bed General Hospital for autopsy as directed by a court order.
Of the remaining two, one was a follower of the Sanatan religion and the body had already been cremated.
The other had died while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where an autopsy was conducted.
With questions being raised on the hurried burial of the bodies, Jibitesh Biswas, superintendent of Gopalganj General Hospital, dismissed allegations that the hospital deliberately handed over the bodies without performing autopsies.
"The actual events are as follows: after the incident on the mentioned date, the first body arrived at the emergency department. Upon declaring the patient deceased, the on-duty doctor informed the relatives that the body would be handed over after completing the autopsy process. At that point, the relatives became agitated and forcibly took the body away," reads a press release signed by Jibitesh on July 20.
Meanwhile, the families also didn't file a case, with the police doing so themselves.
A court then ordered the bodies be exhumed and autopsies be conducted.
A document obtained by Dhaka Stream, signed by Jibitesh Biswas, states that four bodies were brought to the hospital and forcibly taken away by victims' relatives. The letter is dated 16 July.
A simple breakdown
Two of the five deceased were aged below 18, two others were in their 30s, and one was 25. Three of them came from low-income families.
Two were labourers, one was a rickshaw-puller, and two others were small business owners.
All of them were residents of Gopalganj town.
On the day of the incident, they were shot while performing professional duties or near their workplaces, according to family members.
Interestingly, the Stream found the Facebook account of only one of the deceased. Our reporter from the spot informed that a number of those in the protests used fake accounts, or accounts without profile pictures or identifiable markers.
Here's what we have been told about each of the deceased.
Sohel Rana Molla, 35
Sohel's ancestral home was in Purba Tungipara village, Ward 3 of Tungipara Municipality, Gopalganj.
He was the only child of Idris Ali Molla and Laili Begum. Although they owned property in the village, no one lived there.
Due to his father's job, Idris had moved to a rented house in Purba Miyapara of Bedgram, Gopalganj town.
Sohel was the only earning member of the family at the time.
He ran a mobile phone shop at Keramat Ali Plaza in the Chourangi area of Gopalganj town. He had two sons aged 1 and 5.
His uncle and some locals claimed Sohel was not affiliated with any political party.
His father Idris Molla claimed that on the day of the incident, after hearing a commotion, Sohel went from his shop to Chourangi to see what was happening.
As soon as he reached, three bullets hit him in the chest, leg, and abdomen. He was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.
Before an autopsy was done, Sohel's body was collected from the hospital and buried on Thursday (17 July) morning at his village home.
That afternoon, a grave covered in a plastic sheet could be seen at their village home.
"He wasn't involved in any politics, so we don't understand how and why they killed him. And somehow, we recovered the body and buried him here," Idris said said.
Asked about why he didn't consent to a post-mortem, Idris said, "We had no objection to a post-mortem, but why do it after six days, what is this about?"
The Stream looked at Sohel's Facebook profile, which showed him posting live from the spot of the clash between armed forces and the AL supporters.
His posts from earlier, especially from July and August last year, also lend weight to police claims that he was an AL supporter.
Ramzan Kazi, 18
Ramzan's ancestral home was in Harinaghat village, Bandhabari Union, Kotalipara Upazila.
His father, Kamrul Kazi, moved to the district town with his family 20 years ago.
Since then, they had been living in a rented house in Moulvipara of the BSCIC area in town.
Ramzan was born and raised in Gopalganj town.
He studied up to sixth grade.
His father delivers furniture in town. His mother works in households.
Due to family needs, Ramzan had started working as a tile worker's assistant just six months earlier.
On Thursday, he was buried in his residential area in the town without an autopsy.
One of Ramzan's uncles claimed the hospital handed over the bodies to relatives without autopsies.
Later, his funeral prayer was held at the town's graveyard mosque, and he was buried there that night.
Meanwhile, after Ramzan Kazi's death, no one was found at their rented house in Gopalganj town.
Imon Talukder, under 18
Imon was from Bherar Bazar village in Gopalganj Sadar. He was one of five children of Azad Talukder and Roksana Begum.
Imon's father has intellectual disabilities. Imon was the second among three children. The family is not well off.
Imon worked at a crockery store in the Manohari Potti area of the town.
On Wednesday, 16 July, afternoon, the day of the incident, he was shot in the Bara Bazar area of Gopalganj.
The following Thursday morning, he was buried in the municipal graveyard without an autopsy.
One of Imon's relatives, who did not wish to be named, said, "When we got to the hospital, we saw he was already dead. Even for a dead person, the hospital gives some attention — they didn't do that either. Blood was still flowing from the wound in his left shoulder. The floor was almost covered in blood. Still, the doctors did nothing."
About the lack of autopsy, he said, "After taking the body from the hospital, we went to the police station first. The officers told us to take it to the hospital. None of them came with us. We went to the hospital."
He added, "We actually went to do a post-mortem, as the police had told us. There, the doctors directly told me to take the body away, saying problems might arise later. We said, 'Sir, we came for the post-mortem; the police told us to.' They replied, 'Take the body; if anything happens later to the body, you can't blame us.'"
Deepto Saha
After Deepto's death, current and former leaders of banned organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League in Gopalganj claimed he was a member of the student body.
However, his family denied this.
According to family sources, Deepto lived on Udayan Road in town.
His father Santosh Saha had passed away.
Deepto ran a clothing shop named Chandramukhi Garments in the Chourangi area with his elder brother Sanjay Saha.
On the 16 July, the family received a call that someone had seen Deepto in the hospital.
Upon reaching, they found Deepto being taken to an operation theatre.
His elder brother Sanjay Saha Shuvo said when the fighting and gunshots began, Deepto closed the shop and was returning home.
He was shot near Milon Pharmacy in Chourangi, near the left side of his abdomen.
His mother Biva Rani Saha said, "My son wasn't a terrorist. He wasn't involved in politics. Why did they shoot my boy?"
Sanjay said, "What can we do, if the protectors are the ones killing us? Where can we seek justice? We have nowhere to go for justice. There must be a proper investigation and justice."
Deepto's last rites were performed on Wednesday (16 July) night at the Gopalganj Municipal cremation ground.
Family has also filed a murder case against the death.
Ramzan Munshi, 32
In the Gopalganj clash, the last death occurred when Ramzan died while under treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at around 1:45am on 17 July.
His autopsy was conducted there, according to Masud Alam, sub-inspector at the DMCH police outpost.
Ramzan had no wife or children. His sister-in-law said the family returned to Gopalganj with his body a day after he died. First, they submitted his death and autopsy certificates at Gopalganj Police Station, then held his funeral prayer at the Thanapara Masjid.
He was later buried at the Miyapara graveyard.
Ramzan was the son of Akbar Munshi from the Thanapara area in Gopalganj town.
He was a rickshaw puller by profession. His brother Hira Munshi said Ramzan was not affiliated with any political party.
He added that on the day of the incident, Ramzan was in the Cinema Hall area after dropping off a passenger.
At that time, bullets struck his right forearm and underarm. That day, he was taken to Gopalganj hospital, from where he was transferred to Dhaka for better treatment.
On 17 July evening, during a press conference at the Gopalganj Deputy Commissioner's conference room, journalists asked Additional Deputy Inspector General of Dhaka Range, Rezaul Karim Mallik, why the deceased were not autopsied.
He did not answer directly. The DIG said, "This matter will be looked into through legal procedures."
ASK finds serious rights violations
Rights group Ain o Salish Kendra has called for an independent and impartial investigation into the deadly violence in Gopalganj on July 16.
In a report following its on-ground investigation, it further said families were pressured to bury or cremate bodies without post-mortem.
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