The Child Martyrs of the July Uprising

At least 133 children were martyred during Bangladesh’s July-August 2024 mass uprising, according to an investigation. The victims included school, college and madrasa students, as well as working children. Among them, 117 were killed by gunfire. Children participated in the uprising alongside university students, professionals and workers. While some joined demonstrations with their families, others were hit by bullets while watching events from rooftops, balconies or inside their homes.

The youngest victim was four-year-old Abdul Ahad, who was fatally shot on July 19 while standing on the balcony of his family’s apartment in Jatrabari. He died before his parents could take him to the hospital. Six-year-old Jabir Ibrahim was shot while sitting on his father’s shoulders during a protest on August 5 and later died from excessive bleeding. Another victim, six-and-a-half-year-old Riya Gop, was killed after a bullet struck her head as her father attempted to bring her down from the rooftop of their home. The deaths of these children remain among the most heartbreaking tragedies of the July Mass Uprising, symbolising the immense human cost of the movement.

Another child martyr was 15-year-old Naima Sultana, who loved drawing and dreamed of making pizza for her family that day. She was shot in the head while stepping onto the balcony of her home in Uttara to collect dry clothes and died instantly. Her mother, Ainun Nahar, continues to remember the tragedy with profound grief. Teenagers also stood on the front lines of the movement. Seventeen-year-old Shafik Uddin Ahmed Ahnaf, a Class XI student at BAF Shaheen College, was killed in police gunfire at Mirpur-10 on August 4. He had dreamed of making his family proud, but his life was cut short.

Another teenage martyr, 16-year-old Abdullah Al Mahin, was killed by pellet gunfire in front of the RAJUK Commercial Complex in Uttara Azampur on the same day. An active participant in the protests, Mahin was the only son of his parents. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, 132 children and teenagers and 11 women were martyred during the uprising. Nearly 20,000 people were injured, including about 500 who permanently lost their eyesight. Adviser Sharmeen S. Murshid confirmed the figures.

The deaths of Jabir, Riya, Ahad, Naima, Ahnaf and Mahin remain powerful symbols of the human cost of the July Mass Uprising. Their stories represent not only the loss of young lives but also the shattered dreams of families whose grief has become part of the nation’s history.