Outside the intensive care unit of Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Ejaz Ahmed broke down again and again. Eleven years ago, he had carried his newborn sister Reshmi home from this very hospital. On Thursday morning, he left the same hospital carrying her body.
His voice faltered as he tried to speak, tears choking him in the middle of sentence. The corridors echoed with sobs and sighs of grieving relatives.
Reshmi Akter was just 11. A fourth‑grader at a local primary school, the youngest and most cherished in her family. Her world should have been filled with books, friends, and games. Instead, it ended with a bullet.
On the night of 7 May, she stepped out to buy betel leaf for her family in Roufabad’s Shaheed Minar Colony. It was an ordinary errand, a short walk from home. But in moments, everything changed.
Gunmen opened fire targeting a man named Hasan Raju. One stray bullet struck Reshmi in the eye, piercing into her brain. She collapsed, bleeding on the street.
Locals took her to the hospital. As her condition worsened, she was shifted to a private facility, but her poor family could not afford the mounting costs. She was brought back to the ICU at Chattogram Medical College, where a seven‑day battle began.
Doctors said the bullet caused severe neurotrauma. Her organs gradually failed despite the oversight of a seven‑member medical board. Each day, her family prayed for a miracle. But around 9:30am on Thursday, hope ended.
At the ICU entrance, her father Riaz Ahmed, a vegetable seller in the city, sat waiting for her body. He wept as he spoke: “What was my daughter’s fault? She only went out to buy betel leaf. Does being poor mean our children’s lives have no value?”
He had borrowed nearly Tk1 lakh for her treatment, receiving only Tk25,000 in aid from the district commissioner, Mohammad Zahidul Islam Mia. It was not enough to save her.
Reshmi’s classmates are still struggling to grasp that their friend will never return to school. The girl who told the most stories in class, who shared her tiffin, is now only a memory.
Roufabad’s narrow lanes have fallen silent. Residents say the gunfire has stopped, but her mother’s cries have not.
The district commissioner visited the hospital to provide financial support. Police said six suspects have been arrested in connection with the case. Yet no assurance, no arrest can bring back Reshmi.
The eyes that once dreamed of the world were pierced by a bullet. The small feet that walked to buy betel leaf will never walk again.
Her life began in Chattogram Medical College Hospital eleven years ago. It ended there too.
