The interim government led by professor Muhammad Yunus could not make a complete list of the people killed and injured during the student-led peoples uprising in July and August that ousted the government of Sheikh Hasina on August 5.
Though the incident of killings held between July 16 and August 5, but the government was yet to come up with an exact number while different international and national agencies came up with different lists of casualties.
Many relatives has been complaining of missing their dear one while the burial service providers buried a total of 115 unidentified bodies in July and August and eight more unclaimed bodies still remained in Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
On August 15, the government formed a 17 member committee to make a list of the deceased and injured people with former senior secretary Md Humayun Kabir as its head.
Humayun Kabir said that making the list had become challenging because the hospitals did not keep records of many victims that time because of some reality while many others even did not go to the hospitals.
‘There was a frightening situation. Victims and their relatives hid their identity to avoid further hassles and many provided fake name and phone numbers as well,’ he said, adding that the committee couldn’t make a complete list but can suggest what to do next.
He said that they would soon submit a list after necessary validation and information about the victims. The Management Information System of the DGHS has been collecting the information.
DGHS officials said that so far they could enlist 524 dead victims and 16,342 injured.
However, the health adviser to the interim government Nurjahan Begum after visiting central police hospital in the capital’s Rajarbagh on Augst 29 said that more than 1,000 people were killed and over 400 blinded during the student-led mass uprising.
Earlier, on August 21, the non-government rights organisation Human Rights Support Society published a report on the deaths of 819 people from the sources of victim families, hospitals, witnesses, and national dailies.
According to a primary report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published on August 16, as many as 650 people were killed in Bangladesh during the student-led protests between July 16 and August 11.
Of them, nearly 400 deaths were reported from 16 July to 4 August, while around 250 people were reportedly killed following the new wave of protests on August 5 and 6.
The UN office also found that the security forces like police and the Border Guard Bangladesh used unlawful lethal force, deliberately targeted unarmed people.
More than 65 children have been killed during the crackdown, said UNICEF.
Among others, students, workers, women and girls were killed in indiscriminate firing by the security agencies and Awami League’s gunmen.
DMCH mortuary in-charge Ramu informed New Age that eight unidentified bodies were still in the mortuary till Tuesday afternoon.
Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital director Mazharul Islam Khan said that 19 people were brought dead and one victim with gunshot wound died while undergoing treatment at the hospital from July 19 to August 6.
He also mentioned that the hospital could not record information of 13 dead victims.
Anjuman Mufidul Islam, a burial service provider for unclaimed or unidentified bodies, buried 115 bodies in July and August.
Its burial service officer Kamrul Islam said that they buried 81 unclaimed or unidentified bodies in July and on August 3 and 4.
He, however, claimed that Anjuman did not know the exact number of buried bodies related with the movement.
‘We received all bodies following legal procedures and documents,’ said Kamrul.
Anjuman preserves all the necessary documents, including photographs of the deceased, mortuary receipts and others for further necessities and relatives of deceased can come to the office to identify a body from the photographs, said the official.
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