Opratim must not become another forgotten tragedy

The death of 13-year-old Ishiyat Shahriar Opratim of Cumilla leaves us with questions that cannot be buried alongside him.

On Friday afternoon, Opratim left his home in the Kotbari area at around 3.30pm, reportedly taking his mother’s iPhone to take photographs with friends. It was an ordinary act of childhood.

He did not return home. After his family filed a General Diary, his body was recovered the following day from a wooded area near Cumilla University. Police reported serious injuries to his head.

Opratim was a Class 7 pupil at Border Guard Public School and, according to media reports, the only child of his parents. His mother, Dr Nahida Begum, is an Associate Professor at Cumilla University.

For his parents, this is not simply the loss of a child. It is the destruction of a future they had spent years imagining.

The schoolbooks, clothes, photographs and small belongings left behind will now carry a weight that no family should have to bear.

But grief alone cannot be the end of this story.
Opratim’s death raises wider questions about safety, law enforcement and the protection of children.

Can a 13-year-old leave home to spend an afternoon with friends without being assured of returning safely? Are isolated areas around educational institutions and foothills adequately secured? And, most importantly, what happened to Opratim between leaving home and being found dead?
These questions demand evidence, not speculation.

Who last communicated with him? What does CCTV footage show? What was the last known location of his phone? Who, if anyone, accompanied him? What evidence was recovered from the scene? Was there a dispute or conflict? And if this was a killing, what was the motive?

Police must answer these questions through a swift, impartial and transparent investigation.

Social-media rumours and premature accusations can obscure the truth and potentially hinder justice. The public deserves facts established through evidence and due process.

If the investigation establishes that Opratim was murdered, everyone responsible must face the law, regardless of wealth, influence or identity.

Punishment cannot return a child to his parents, but accountability is essential if the law is to mean anything.

At the same time, authorities must examine security around Cumilla University and other isolated areas frequented by children and young people.

Preventing another tragedy requires more than expressing sorrow after one has occurred.

Every parent deserves the basic assurance that when a child leaves home, they can return safely.

Opratim will never come home. His parents will carry that absence for the rest of their lives.

But his death must not become another forgotten news story.

Blood may dry and headlines may fade, but the demand for truth and justice must remain.

Let Opratim’s death awaken our conscience-and compel us to protect the next child.

(The writer is a teacher, poet and columnist)