“I filed a case on 11 September, but I don’t think even ten people have been arrested since. If the accused aren’t being brought in, how can we hope for justice? The police keep saying they’re under pressure from higher-ups,” said Abul Hossain, father of martyr Nafisa Hossain Marwa, his voice filled with quiet anguish.

 Nafisa was shot and killed near the Savar Model Mosque on 5 August, during the July uprising. Her life was taken in the afternoon, amid the chaos that swept through Savar.

Abul Hossain filed a case against several high-profile figures, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former Law Minister Anisul Huq, and Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader.

 Speaking about the July Shaheed Smrity Foundation, Abul Hossain said, “This foundation has done nothing for us. Those who once marched under the banner of the ‘Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’ now hold positions, draw salaries, and enjoy the perks—while the families of the martyrs are cast aside and forgotten.”

He also accused Freedom Fighters Adviser Faruk-e-Azam of deliberately fuelling divisions among the martyr families.

 The government promised Tk30 lakh to each martyr’s family but later caused confusion over in-laws and widows. Many widows have remarried or may remarry, which is their right. Now, they’re told remarriage could forfeit compensation. Those with children will receive 75%, with the rest going to parents; if no children, the wife gets 25% and parents 75%, he added.

 “We fought for equity, but now the very discrimination our children died opposing is creeping back,” he added.

Expressing deep sorrow, martyr Nazifa’s father told the Daily Sun, “In the past year, I’ve given at least 700 interviews. People come, fill a bucket with my tears, and walk away. But what about my daughter? She still lies beneath the ground.”

Voicing her anger through raw pain, Farhana Islam Poppy, from another martyr’s family, recounted how her husband, Hasan Mehdi, a journalist with Dhaka Times, was shot dead in Jatrabari on 18 July at 4pm while reporting on the unrest.

 “Why is justice so hard to find? We gave the police all the evidence—the shots came from Armoured Vehicle No. 25. Just check the CCTV footage. Why can’t they name the killer?”

At a conference in the capital on 4 July, Jannatul Ferdous Safa, wife of martyr Masud Rana, expressed deep disappointment: “No one remembered us for a whole year. Why is it only in July that everyone recalls us? The families of the martyrs still haven’t received official recognition.”