Among one of the first and youngest lives lost during the Anti-discrimination student movement last July, Farhan Faiyaz, 17, was a first-year HSC student at Dhaka Residential Model College (DMRC).
On July 18, 2024, a video footage of a woman breaking down in tears at the sight of a body in Mohammadpur City Hospital started circulating on Facebook. The woman, Farhan’s aunt Nazia Khan uttered, “He was more than a son to me… He is dead now….”
Farhan and his friend Wasif Munim had joined the anti-discrimination student movement along with other classmates on July 18.
However, when they reached Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area, both got stuck in a chase and counter chase between demonstrating students and members of law enforcement agencies along with armed thugs of Chhatra League and Jubo League.
In the resulting clash, Farhan was shot in his chest while his friend Munim survived with minor injuries.
Munzareen Shahid, of 10-Minute School fame, shared a photo of herself and Farhan on Facebook. Expressing disbelief at the loss of a beloved and bright student, she wrote, “He was my student … He was not even 18! … He has died!”
The video had spread through the social media platform like fire, with people seeking justice for the young boy gone too soon.
He used to live with his grandmother in Mohammadpur’s Japan Garden City before moving in with his father in Kakrail a few months before the tragedy.
After his untimely and cruel death, his teachers and friends remember him with great affection. Immediately after his passing, students of Dhaka Residential Model College blackened their Facebook profile pictures, protesting his killing. His teachers lauded him as a bright and polite student.
His Facebook bio, many noted read, “One day, you’ll leave this world behind. So live a life you will remember.” And he truly did live a life worth remembering.
