Eid joy a distant cry for Rajon's family

Though himself a 13-year-old child, Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon used to cater to the needs of his nine-year-old brother Sheikh Samiul Alam Sajon. While their father usually bought them new clothes for Eid, Rajon used to go a step ahead, getting cricket balls, chocolates and sandals for his sibling.

But the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr will be very different for the shell-shocked family. There will be no celebration, no loving brother to bring in goodies for Sajon. A pall of gloom has descended on the household in Bhadeali village of Sylhet sadar upazila for Rajon is no longer with them.

Rajon was beaten to death in Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet on the morning of July 8. One of the perpetrators filmed the brutal beating and shared it on social media, sparking outrage at home and abroad.

"My father became sick after my brother's death. How will we celebrate Eid," Sajon told this correspondent yesterday.

A class I student of Anantapur Government High School, he recalled receiving a cricket ball and some money the day he met his brother for the last time.

"He loved me so much. He bought things from the money he used to save after selling vegetables," added Sajon.

"Eid brings nothing but bittersweet memories of my son," said his mother Rubina.

The devastated father, Azizur Rahman, is still reeling from the fact that his son is no more. "How will we celebrate the Eid and with whom? My son will never come back," he said.

Rubina breaks down in tears holding her son Sheikh Samiul Alam Sajon in her Bhadeali village residence in Sylhet sadar upazila on Wednesday while reminiscing about her elder son, Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon, who was beaten to death in Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet on the morning of July 8 by some persons accusing him of stealing a rickshaw-van. Photo: Mintu Deshwara, collected

On the fateful day, Rajon had told Sajon that he would take him to the market. "But he did not come back. We got his dead body. I watched my brother being beaten up mercilessly on television," said Sajon.

Meanwhile, Muhit Alam, one of the nine persons arrested over the incident and now on a five-day remand, confessed that he had tortured the child for several hours.

With his father unwell, Rajon had gone out alone selling vegetables from a rickshaw-van that day, something the father and son did together.

Muhit admitted that he stopped Rajon and called in others, including his brothers Kamrul Islam, Ismail Ali alias Abluch and Shamim, to start torturing Rajon, claiming that the child was riding a stolen rickshaw-van.

When Rajon succumbed to the torture, they kept the body on the rickshaw-van while Muhit brought a rented microbus from Kumargaon Bus Stand to get rid of the body.

Locals caught Muhit and the microbus at the Kumargaon residential area around 12:45pm while Kamrul, Ismail, Nur Miah, who alleged videotaped the torture, and Moyna Mia, a watchman, fled.

Sylhet Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Police Commissioner (media) Rahmat Ullah and Jalalabad Police Station Officer-in-Charge Akhtar Hossain informed The Daily Star of the findings.

Law enforcers are trying to locate the microbus' owner.

Meanwhile, a Sylhet court allowed Nur and one Dulal Ahmed each to be taken on a seven-day remand.

Of the remaining arrestees, Kamrul is in a Saudi Arabian jail, Moyna on a seven-day remand and Ismail on a five-day remand.

Muhit's wife Lipi Begum is also under arrest along with two others, Asmot Ali and Firoz Ali, who are accused of witnessing but not reporting the incident.

Meanwhile, an around two-minute video footage of the torture went viral on social media since Wednesday night. The first video was around 28 minutes long.