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A 21-year-old man died on the eve of his wedding in Gaibandha town on Thursday, turning wedding celebrations into mourning for two families.
Arif Shahriar Soumik died on October 15, the day his gaye holud ceremony—a traditional pre-wedding turmeric ritual—was scheduled to take place. His wedding was planned for Friday.
Preparations were underway at both families’ homes, with the bride’s house decorated with lights and a special entrance gate to welcome the groom. News of Soumik’s death plunged his family’s home in David Companypara into grief, while the bride’s family was also left devastated.
Soumik had recently graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) from North South University, securing second place in his class with first-class honours.
His elder sister, Sharmin Sultana, said he had returned home from Dhaka about a month earlier and had been suffering from fever for four days.
According to Sharmin, his temperature rose abnormally on Thursday. At around 9am, family members took him to Maisha Diagnostic Centre, a private facility opposite Gaibandha District Sadar Hospital.
She alleged that after a prolonged wait, physician Dr Monir Hossain Murad prescribed medication at around 1pm. Soumik was then taken home with the prescribed medicines.
However, his condition deteriorated further in the afternoon, prompting his family to take him to Gaibandha District Sadar Hospital at around 5:30pm.
Sharmin alleged that Soumik had to remain in a rickshaw outside the hospital’s emergency department for nearly an hour before a doctor declared him dead.
The circumstances surrounding his death, including the treatment he received at the diagnostic centre and the hospital, were not independently verified in the report. No official medical findings explaining the cause of death were provided.
Soumik’s sudden death has left his family, relatives and acquaintances in mourning, bringing an abrupt end to the wedding celebrations that had been planned with anticipation.