For Bhulu Begum, a domestic worker living in Swamibag, the memory of 4 July 2011 is not defined by politics or headlines, but by the smell of rice and an empty chair.
On that humid afternoon, her small home in Gendaria was filled with the mundane sounds of her sons, Azad and Sajal, watching television.
“The rice is ready, but the curry is still cooking,” she had told them. Sajal, her younger son who earned his living at a brick and sand shop, stepped out of the house while talking on his mobile phone.
His last words to his mother were a simple promise, “Prepare the food, I’ll be right back and we’ll eat together.” He never returned to the table.
The tragedy of Sajal’s disappearance and murder took centre stage at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Thursday, as Bhulu Begum broke down in tears while recounting the day her life was fractured.
She testified before the tribunal that her son, a BNP activist, was picked up and killed in Gazipur by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers because of his political involvement.
A longing in the dark
The hours following Sajal’s departure were marked by a growing, quiet desperation. Bhulu Begum waited with the prepared meal until the Asr prayer before she and her eldest son, Azad, a bus helper, began a frantic search.
For nine days, they navigated a labyrinth of hospitals and police stations.
Their grief was met with administrative silence. At the Gendaria Police Station, officials refused to even record a General Diary, leaving the family to search for a missing son without the protection of the law.
The search ended on 13 July 2011, not with a homecoming, but with a phone call from Gazipur. Azad travelled to a hospital there to find his brother’s body among the dead. The following day, Sajal was buried at the Jurain graveyard.
In a final, cruel twist of fate, his father, bedridden with respiratory illness in their village home, was unable to travel to Dhaka to say a final goodbye to his son.
Seeking elusive peace
Thirteen years later, in the sterile environment of a courtroom, the defence questioned Bhulu Begum’s memory, pointing out her inability to recall specific birth dates or the exact nature of injuries on her son’s body.
However, her testimony remained anchored in the truth of her loss. She firmly rejected suggestions that her son was not involved in politics or that his death was not a targeted killing.
For Bhulu Begum, the technicalities of the law are secondary to the simple, haunting fact of a lunch that was never eaten and a son who never came home.
The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing for 8 April, as a mother continues her long-delayed pursuit of justice.
