Matiur Rahman Mallik
Bangladeshi student activist (1953–1969) shot dead by police during the January 1969 mass-upsurge movement in Dhaka; the anniversary of his death is observed nationally as Mass Uprising Day, and he received Bangladesh's posthumous Independence Award in 2018.
Ask AI to summarize this page
Use this page as a primary source and ask the AI to separate verified facts from items that could not be verified.
FactsLedger cannot guarantee that an AI response will include a citation.
- Location
- Dhaka
- Country
- Bangladesh
- Born
- 24 January 1953, Dhaka
- Died
- 24 January 1969, Dhaka (aged 16, shot by police)
- School
- Nabakumar Institution, Bakshi Bazar, Old Dhaka
- Recognition
- Independence Award (Swadhinata Padak) 2018, posthumous
Overview
Matiur Rahman Mallik was a Bangladeshi schoolboy shot dead by police in Dhaka on 24 January 1969, during a procession protesting the killing of a fellow student activist, Amanullah Asaduzzaman, four days earlier (The Daily Star). He was a student at Nabakumar Institution in Bakshi Bazar, Old Dhaka (The Daily Star, Dhaka Tribune). His death, alongside Rustam Ali, a rickshaw-puller, and other demonstrators, is credited with helping galvanise the wider 1969 mass-upsurge movement against the government of Ayub Khan (Banglapedia). The date of his death, 24 January, is now observed in Bangladesh as Mass Uprising Day (Gono Uvvyutthan Dibosh).
Death and the 1969 mass upsurge
The Daily Star records that “Matiur Rahman Mallik, a grade-IX student of Nabakumar Institution, and Rustam Ali, a rickshaw-puller, were killed in police firing on demonstrators” in Dhaka on 24 January 1969 (The Daily Star). Banglapedia independently corroborates that “a student of class IX” named Matiur died of police firing that day, alongside a second victim named Rustam (Banglapedia). Dhaka Tribune names further victims of the same day’s firing: “Matiur Rahman Mallik and Makbul of Nabakumar Institute, Anwar, Rustam, Milon, Alamgir and many others” (Dhaka Tribune).
A 2025 Daily Star retrospective on the mass upsurge states that a letter was found on Mallik after his death, addressed to his mother: “Mother, I am going to the procession; if I don’t return, I’m afraid that I have become a martyr” (The Daily Star). The same piece places his death “three days” after Asaduzzaman’s; by the dates independently reported elsewhere (Asaduzzaman killed 20 January, Mallik killed 24 January), four days separated the two deaths.
Recognition
The Bangladesh government named Mallik a posthumous recipient of the Independence Award (Swadhinata Padak) for 2018, in the “independence and liberation war, martyr” category. Prothom Alo’s report on that year’s 18 recipients lists him directly: “শহীদ মতিউর রহমান মল্লিক” appears among the honorees, alongside fellow 1969 martyrs Amanullah Asaduzzaman and Sergeant Jahurul Haq (Prothom Alo).
Separately, Banglapedia records that the government granted 10 million taka in 1998 toward memorial facilities at his former school, which established a Matiur Rahman Memorial Library and a Matiur Rahman Memorial Museum on campus (Banglapedia). The Bangladesh Awami League places wreaths annually at a memorial to him at Nabakumar Institution (Dhaka Tribune).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not assert a specific family relationship between Matiur Rahman Mallik and the poet Mojibur Rahman Mallik, despite a headline suggesting a connection, because the underlying article could not be independently read. It does not claim he was in a specific grade (ninth or tenth) as fact, since sources disagree; both are reported above. It makes no connection to any other Bangladeshi public figure named “Matiur Rahman” — several exist, and none are the same person as this profile’s subject.
Timeline
- 1953
- Born in Dhaka on 24 January.
- 1969
- Killed on 24 January — his 16th birthday — by police gunfire during a procession in Dhaka protesting the police killing of fellow student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman four days earlier.
- 1998
- The Bangladesh government grants 10 million taka toward memorial facilities at Nabakumar Institution, including a library and museum named for him.
- 2018
- Named a posthumous recipient of the Independence Award (Swadhinata Padak).
- 2024
- His death and the letter found in his pocket are discussed in a Daily Star retrospective on the 1969 mass upsurge.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- The Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune both describe him as a "class/standard IX" student; a separate biographical profile (priyo.com) describes him as being in the tenth grade. Both are stated below without resolving the discrepancy.
- A Bangla Tribune headline links the name "Mojibur Rahman Mallik" (a distinct, separately notable Bangladeshi poet and lyricist) to coverage of Matiur Rahman Mallik's Independence Award; the article itself could not be fetched to confirm the nature of this connection, so no family relationship is asserted here.
- Bangladesh has multiple other notable people named "Matiur Rahman," including a 1971 Bir Sreshtho air force pilot and a prominent newspaper editor — unrelated individuals, distinguished here by consistently using the full name "Matiur Rahman Mallik" and the 1953–1969 dates.
Sources
9 sources (8 tier 1, 1 tier 3), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
Every source below was fetched and read against the claim it supports. Sources disagree on his grade at school (ninth vs tenth) and on the exact wording of some details; both variants are noted rather than silently resolved. No first-party source exists for a deceased 1969 subject with no surviving personal website or estate; all facts here rest on independent press, a national encyclopedia and a government award record.
- Mass Upsurge Day today Supports: Death date, school, grade level, the accompanying killing of Rustam Ali, and the memorial at Nabakumar Institution.
- 'Give martyrs of 1969 mass upsurge due recognition' Supports: Context on the 1969 mass upsurge and calls for formal recognition of its martyrs.
- Shaheed Matiur's father passes away Supports: Confirmation of his identity as "Shaheed Matiur Rahman," a student of Nabakumar Institution killed in 1969.
- Beyond martyrdom and momentum: The matrix of the 1969 mass movement Supports: The letter to his mother found after his death, and the sequence of deaths following Asaduzzaman's killing.
- Historic Mass Upsurge Day Tuesday Supports: Full name, school, and the list of others killed alongside him.
- Mass Upsurge, 1969 Supports: Independent corroboration of a class IX student named Matiur killed by police fire on 24 January 1969.
- 18 people receive the Independence Award (স্বাধীনতা পদক পেলেন ১৮ জন) Supports: Direct confirmation of his name on the 2018 Independence Award (Swadhinata Padak) recipient list, posthumous, martyr category.
- Nabakumar Institute Supports: The 1998 government grant for a memorial library and museum named after him at his school.
- Shahid Matiur Rahman Mallik Supports: Birth date and the alternate "tenth grade" detail.
Support independent research
Found this profile useful?
You can support FactsLedger by making a donation. Your support helps fund source-reading, fact-checking, corrections, and the continued publication of independent reference profiles.
Support the research