DHAKA: Two years ago today, Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdho was shot dead in Dhaka’s Uttara area while handing out water and biscuits to protesters during the quota reform movement, a killing that helped turn a student demonstration into a nationwide uprising.
Mugdho, 25, was filmed in Azampur asking passersby and fellow protesters, “Paani lagbe, paani?” or “Do you need water?” just minutes before he was shot. He died from his injuries on July 18, 2024. The footage spread rapidly across Bangladeshi social media, and his death is widely credited with galvanizing wider public anger against the government.
He was a freelancer and graduate student pursuing an MBA at the Bangladesh University of Professionals in Dhaka, having earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Khulna University in 2023. He earned an estimated $2,000 to $3,000 a month freelancing. As a child, he was a Bangladesh Scout and played football.
Mugdho was born one of twins, a minute after his brother Mir Mahbubur Rahman Snigdho. He had an elder brother, Dipto. Their father worked as a health inspector in Brahmanbaria. Snigdho later told journalists he had planned to join his brother that day but Mugdho asked him not to come.
Mugdho’s death came during one of the deadliest stretches of the protest movement, as authorities cracked down on demonstrators calling for reform of civil service hiring quotas. What began as a campaign against the quota system grew into a broader movement against the government of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned and left the country on August 5, 2024.
FactoPulse
