The life of 11-year-old Reshmi Akter hangs by a thread at the Chattogram Medical College (CMCH) Hospital.
An innocent victim of a gangland shooting in the city’s Roufabad area, her condition is described by doctors as “near brain-dead,” leaving her family in a state of shattered hope and desperation.
Reshmi, a Class IV student at a local primary school and the youngest of five siblings, was caught in the crossfire last Thursday night.
She had been sent to a nearby shop by her mother to buy betel leaf (pan) when five to six masked gunmen opened fire on 24-year-old Hasan Raju. While Raju was killed on the spot, a stray bullet struck Reshmi, entering through her eye and penetrating her brain.
Dr Khurshid Anwar, assistant registrar of the Neurosurgery department at CMCH, told TIMES of Bangladesh on Sunday that the child’s condition remains unchanged and critical.
“The bullet caused complex neurotrauma. She is currently on life support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), showing almost no neurological response,” he said.
A seven-member medical board has been formed to oversee her treatment, but doctors warn that her pulse is weak, and her oxygen saturation and blood pressure continue to fluctuate dangerously.
Internal bleeding and the loss of brain matter through her eye have further complicated her survival.
Outside the ICU, the air is heavy with the cries of Reshmi’s relatives. Her father, Riaz Ahmed, a humble spinach seller, is a man broken by a tragedy he cannot afford.
“My daughter is in a terrible state; she is only being kept alive by machines,” Riaz said through his tears. “We are poor people. I do not even have the means to pursue a legal case. I want justice for the attack on my daughter. I am pleading with the government for help.”
The financial toll has been as devastating as the physical one. Since Thursday, the family has already spent nearly one lakh Taka on medical expenses.
After failing to secure an ICU bed at CMCH initially, they were forced to take her to a private clinic before returning to the government hospital when a bed finally became available on Friday night.
While the family of the deceased Hasan Raju filed a murder case at the Bayezid Bostami Police Station on Saturday, no arrests have been made four days after the shooting.
Amirul Islam, Deputy Commissioner (North) of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police, stated that while the suspects have been identified and operations are underway, specific details are being withheld for strategic reasons.
For Riaz Ahmed and his family, however, the only detail that matters is the flickering life of a little girl who went out for a simple errand and never came home.
