The interim government is preparing for the one-year celebration of the fall of the Awami League government through a meticulously designed coup or a fake movement against quotas in public service.
But people are criticising the government vehemently for the gross irregularities in preparing the list of martyrs and injured.
They are questioning the sincerity of the government officials concerned and the committees formed by the student leaders. They are accusing the committee members, the police, and the plaintiffs of financial corruption.
On the other hand, over 80,000 cases have been filed against more than 5,00,000 people, including over 400 cases against Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Currently, around 1,50,000 Awami League leaders and supporters are in jail without trial.
A report by Banglanews24.com has created an uproar. The online portal, run by the Bashundhara Group, has cited at least four names falsely included in the list of July martyrs. Many people who had not participated in the movement and were not injured at that time have been labelled as July Joddha (July Warriors or July Fighters).
Many of the injured and the families of the fake martyrs have received assistance from the July Memorial Foundation by providing false information.
So far, more than 70 people who were included in the list of martyrs and July Warriors (injured) through fraud using fake documents have been identified.
Foundation officials say they have written to the government to remove the names of 19 people from the Health Ministryโs MIS list. If scrutinised properly, another 1,000-1,500 fake injuries could be detected.
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The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus with three student representatives as advisers, formed a special cell under the Ministry of Health on August 15, 2024, to compile lists of the deceased and injured. On December 21, the committee compiled a list of 858 martyrs and 11,551 injured individuals.
The list was prepared in association with the district administration and the civil surgeon’s offices in every district. Later, the Foundation scrutinised the list.
On January 15, 2025, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs published the first gazette of 834 martyrs after discarding 24 names from the primary list.
The list contains their medical case ID, names, fathers’ names, and current and permanent addresses. However, the locations or dates of their deaths are not included.
On February 27, the same ministry published another list of 1,401 injured persons, or July Warriors. Of them, 493 critically injured were put under “Category A” and 908 under “Category B.”
Four case studies
Abu Sayed was killed in a mob lynching while extorting money in the Bahir Tenga area of Dhakaโs Demra on August 9 last year, according to the report by Banglanews24.com.
Son of Md Sekendar Ali and father of a child, Abu Sayed, has been mentioned on the list of the July martyrs at 179.
However, a Dhaka Post report from August 10 says Abu Sayed was the convener of Jubo Dalโs Ward No. 67 Unit. He was severely injured when some unidentified criminals attacked him with sharp weapons while he was taking tea in the area on the evening of August 9. Doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital declared him dead on arrival.
The names of the persons in the case could not be known immediately.
Md Imtiaz Hossain, son of Md Habibur Rahman of the Chatkhil area in โโNoakhali, was an employee of a courier service.
When the government fell on August 5, he participated in the looting of the Chatkhil police station and ran away with a weapon. On the way, he was accidentally shot in the leg and died of excessive bleeding.
Imtiaz is also included in the list of martyrs. His gazette number is 784.
Bijoy died in a motorcycle accident in Jatrabari on August 13 while going to a restaurant to buy paratha. He is also on the list of martyrs.
Al Amin was shot dead in a land dispute in the Wari area of โโOld Dhaka. His father filed a murder case at the Wari police station. His name is also on the list of martyrs.
Sheikh Hasina is accused, but no one killed Somechh Uddin
In Rangpur, Hazirhat police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdullah Al Mamun has admitted that he wrote the FIR of a murder case on behalf of the victimโs family under the instruction of the higher authorities and registered it.
The case accuses 54 leaders and activists of the Awami League, including Sheikh Hasina and General Secretary Obaidul Quader. He also named some local leaders of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.
On June 19, he arrested the 54th accusedโMahmudul Haque, an assistant professor at Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur. The same day, the arrestee was sent to jail.
Amena Begum, the wife of grocer Somechh Uddin and plaintiff in the case, said that on August 2 last year, her husband tried to flee his shop in the Radha Krishnapur area after seeing a police team. The police were looking for a local Jamaat leader. After some time, he fell on the road and lost consciousness. Doctors said he died of a heart attack.
The OC asked her to sign a paper and did not tell her the names of the accused, she added.
Dead man returns
On October 24, Kulsum Begum filed a murder case with a Dhaka court, accusing Sheikh Hasina and 129 others, of the death of her husband, Al Amin. Ashulia police registered the case on November 8.
She alleged that he was killed while taking part in an anti-government protest in Bypile of Ashulia on August 5. She also identified an unclaimed body as that of her husband.
On November 11, Al Amin appeared at the Dakkhin Surma police station and filed a general diary, saying that his wife had filed a false case by showing him dead.
Two days later, he testified at the Dhakaโs Chief Judicial Magistrateโs Court with the help of the Ashulia police.
The couple used to stay in Sylhet. After an argument with Al Amin, Kulsum left him on August 28 and went to Ashulia.
Police arrested Kulsum and two of her associates. She later confessed that she had filed the false case at the instruction of the duo, who offered her a job.
A man named Solaiman Selim from the Fulbaria area of โโMymensingh is claiming that his brother filed a murder case showing him dead during the July movement. When the police went to his address for investigation, they came to know about his fake death.
Selim recently filed a general diary at the local police station out of fear for his safety.
The case was registered at Jatrabari police station, stating that he died in a shooting in Dhaka’s Kajla area on August 3. Sheikh Hasina is the main accused in the murder case. The other accused are 41 people, including Obaidul Quader, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and Shamim Osman, and another 150-200 unnamed Awami League leaders and activists.
At Ashulia police station, a man named Shahed Hasan filed a case over the death of Ashraful Islam, who was found shot dead near Habib Hospital on August 5. Ashrafulโs mother filed the other case at the same police station. The names of the accused in the cases are also different.
Ashuliaโs Lucky Akhter said she did not know the accused in the case filed over the death of her husband, Abul Hossain. The students asked her to sign a paper. โAt that time, I told them to name the accused after scrutising the CCTV footage. But they said they already knew the culprits,โ she said.
As per the case, she filed it on October 5, accusing 32 named and 300-400 unnamed members of the Awami League and the 14-party alliance of the murder.
Fake July Warriors
According to a case filed on April 16, some unknown people attacked the house of Md Ilias Hossain Hiron at Uttara Sector 5 on August 7 last year due to previous enmity. He was injured in that attack.
Later, he registered himself as a July Fighter by forging medical documents and took a cheque of Tk2 lakh from the government.
Another person named Md Liton of Jafrabad in Mohammadpur claimed to have been injured while participating in the movement in front of the Raju sculpture of Dhaka University on July 14 last year.
He also claimed that he was injured in front of the Bijoy 71 Hall of Dhaka University.
In fact, he was not injured during the movement. He registered his name using fake medical documents and received Tk1 lakh from the July Memorial Foundation.
A letter sent by the foundation to the Health Ministry expressed deep concerns that the process of preparing the MIS list of those injured was not properly transparent and acceptable.
โWe would like to inform you with great regret that the analysis of the files submitted to our foundation shows that several people, even though they were not injured in the July mass uprising, have been included in the MIS database using fake medical documents and political influence. This is not only an injustice to the victims, but also an extreme insult to the sacrifice of the martyrs and the national mass movement. The July Memorial Foundation believes that this process was weak, negligent, and distorted due to accelerated political pressure,โ the letter reads.
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