Shaown Talukdar

Shawon Talukdar was a cheerful and skilled cabinetmaker. While secretly recording scenes of repression during the anti-discrimination student movement, he was martyred by police gunfire. Shawon was born in 2003 in Tangail to his father, Nur Nabi Talukdar, and mother, Mosammat Baby. His mother passed away due to dengue. His father, a rickshaw puller, later remarried. Shawon's younger brother, Noyon, works as a laborer, while his younger sister, Nurjahan, is a second-grade student. Shawon had a monthly income of 15,000 BDT and was married just one week before his death.
Context of Martyrdom
Upon assuming power unlawfully, the Awami League engaged in widespread partisanship, looting, money laundering, injustice, and terrorist activities, ultimately holding the nation hostage and rendering the state dysfunctional. In 1974, due to widespread looting by Mujib’s MPs and ministers, a devastating famine struck the country. In the following years, under the authoritarian rule of Hasina, oppression intensified to such an extent that any criticism of the government led to imprisonment, enforced disappearances, or killings. Excessive foreign loans and financial corruption resulted in skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, making it impossible for low-income people to afford three meals a day. The failure to control inflation forced many families to withdraw their children from school and involve them in labor. Shawon Talukdar’s father was one such individual who, unable to provide three meals a day, had to put his two sons to work.
Between 2020 and 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the education system, leading to a high dropout rate among students. Even before that, due to the rampant corruption within Hasina’s administration, educated youth found it increasingly difficult to secure employment, prompting many families to lose faith in the education system. Mismanagement across all sectors gradually pushed the country toward dysfunctionality. During this period, the general public was deprived of the right to voice their concerns against irregularities, as the entire media operated in alignment with Hasina’s directives. The only sources of truth remained online platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.
In an attempt to consolidate her power, Sheikh Hasina unlawfully appointed her incompetent, sycophantic, and terror-affiliated loyalists, along with pro-India elements, to various institutions, effectively transforming all sectors into Awami League-controlled entities. With corruption deeply entrenched in every sphere, the country descended into chaos. Hasina had long been depriving meritorious candidates of government jobs to recruit her loyalists instead. Students were outraged by this injustice. She further sought to appoint even more party loyalists through fraudulent "Freedom Fighter Quotas." However, in 2018, students launched a movement against this system, forcing Hasina to abolish the quota system in response. After unlawfully seizing power again in 2024, Hasina sought to further strengthen her rule by securing government jobs for her party’s criminals, sycophants, and Indian affiliates. At a time when 25 million citizens were already unemployed, approximately 2.6 million Indians were illegally working in Bangladesh. The public also became aware that fake freedom fighter certificates could be purchased for hundreds of thousands of takas. It was revealed that the Minister for Liberation War Affairs, A.K.M. Mozammel Haque, was issuing such certificates in exchange for money to benefit his party members. On June 25, 2019, the Ittefaq newspaper reported that the country had 80,000 fake freedom fighters.
Students continued organizing nationwide demonstrations, while Hasina’s armed groups brutally suppressed their protests. Thousands were injured and killed. What began as a movement against the quota system soon evolved into a one-point demand for Hasina’s resignation. On August 1, Sheikh Hasina outlawed Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatrashibir, recognizing their active role in the protests. She then instructed law enforcement agencies to carry out mass killings. On August 4, unarmed students and civilians courageously stood against heavily armed government forces. On August 5, the bloodthirsty Hasina and her sycophantic forces, with the help of the army chief, fled the country. Before leaving, she ordered her forces to carry out a massacre.
How He Became a Martyr
On August 5, as news spread that the tyrant Hasina had fled to India due to the one-point demand of the student-led movement, Shawon Talukdar joined a victory rally to celebrate alongside the general public. While mainstream media largely ignored the July protests, courageous youths like Shawon Talukdar stepped forward, capturing crucial photos and videos that exposed the brutality of the Awami League to the nation.
As on previous days, on August 5 at around 4 PM, Shawon was filming police firing at civilians when Awami-backed police forces identified him. They then shot him in the head, killing him instantly. As the news of Shawon’s death spread across the Kajla area, his home and neighborhood were engulfed in mourning. Following funeral prayers at the Kajla Par Graveyard, he was laid to rest.
Condition of His Family
Shawon’s mother is still alive. His younger brother and sister now live under the care of their grandmother. His wife became a widow just one week after their marriage.
Proposal
1. Initiatives should be taken to preserve the memory of the martyr.
Martyr's Profile at a Glance
Name: Shaown Talukdar
Occupation: Carpenter
Date of Birth & Age: March 15, 2003
Father: Nur Nabi Talukdar (Rickshaw Driver)
Mother: Deceased, Mrs. Baby
Brother: Noyon, Age 18, Occupation: Laborer
Sister: Nurjahan, Age 10, 2nd Grade
Date of Injury & Martyrdom: August 5, 2024, Monday, around 7 PM
Place of Martyrdom: In front of Jatrabari Police Station
Buried at: Kazla Graveyard
Permanent Address: Kazla Para, Jatrabari, Dhaka
Condition of House and Assets: No assets