Mohammad Ruhul Amin ( bn, মোহাম্মদ রুহুল আমিন; 1935–1971), was an engine room artificer in the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

who was posthumously awarded the Bangladesh's highest bravery award,

Bir Sreshtho The Bir Sreshtho ( bn, বীরশ্রেষ্ঠ; ), is the highest military award of Bangladesh. It was awarded to seven freedom fighters who showed utmost bravery and died in action for their nation. They are considered martyrs. The other ...

, for his service and bravery during the

Liberation War Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

. He was killed on 10 December 1971 while onboard BNS Palash which was sunk in reportedly an accidental fire by

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

(IAF).

Early life

Bir Shrestho Ruhul Amin was born in 1935 at Bagpanchra village under what is now

Sonaimuri Upazila Sonaimuri (সোনাইমুড়ী) is a newly established upazila or sub-district in Noakhali District, Bangladesh. It consists of ten union councils or parishads - Ambarnagar, Amisha Para, Bazra, Deoti, Jayag, Nadana, Nateshwar, Sonaimu ...

Noakhali district Noakhali ( bn, নোয়াখালী, , New canal), historically known as Bhulua ( bn, ভুলুয়া), is a district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in the Chittagong Division. It was established as district in 1821, and offici ...

. His father was Mohammad Azhar Patwari and mother was Zulekha Khatun.

Involvement in the Liberation War

At the start of Bangladesh Liberation War with

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...

, Amin immediately resigned from the Pakistan Navy, left PNS ''Comilla'' at Chittagong, and returned to his village. He organized local youths and soldiers for the war. In May, he along with 500 others joined at Sector-3 under Major

K M Shafiullah Kazi Mohammed Shafiullah Bir Uttam (born 2 September 1934), also known as K. M. Shafiullah, is a retired Bangladeshi general, former Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, and former Member of Parliament. As the Second in Command of Secon ...

. Later he enrolled at ''Palash'', a warship of Bangladesh Navy and at the same time worked as the squadron leader for both warships ''Padma'' and ''Palash''. On 10 December 1971, during the concluding days of the Bangladesh Liberation War, an incident occurred at the Rupsha river in Khulna. In a successful campaign of the allied Bangladesh and Indian naval forces, after freeing Jessore, the ships were advancing towards capturing the Titumir naval base from the Pakistan Navy. Two of the warships of the Bangladesh Navy/Mukti Bahini named ''Padma'' and ''Palash'' mistakenly came under fire from the Indian Air Force as it crossed the river Rupsha near the Khulna shipyard. According to some other witnesses, Indian Air Force fired at different places of Khunla city earlier that day and incidentally one of those bombs had fallen at the warship ''Palash''. Ruhul Amin was working as an artificer of that ship. Both ships caught fire. As a result of heavy bombing, the engine room in the warship caught fire and in a bid to save the ship, Ruhul Amin tried to extinguish it, ignoring orders to abandon the ship. But the engine room was under fire again and another shell exploded which injured Ruhul Amin and made him to abandon the ship. He jumped into the water and swam ashore but was attacked and killed with bayonets by the awaiting

Razakars Razakar (رضا کار) is etymologically an Arabic word which literally means volunteer. The word is also common in Urdu language as a loanword. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, razakar is a pejorative word meaning a traitor or Judas. In Pakista ...

Legacy

Ro Ro Ferry ''Bir Shreshtha Ruhul Amin'' was named after him. The Bangladesh Navy warship BNS ''Shaheed Ruhul Amin'' is named after him. Bir Shrestha Ruhul Amin Sarani is a road in Saidpur cantonment,

Saidpur Saidpur may refer to: __NOTOC__ Bangladesh * Saidpur, Bangladesh, a city in Bangladesh ** Saidpur Airport * Saidpur Cantonment, a cantonment of the Bangladesh Army * Saidpur Upazila, an Upazila of Nilphamari District India * Saidpur (Assembly con ...

, Nilphamari which is named after him. Bir Shrestha Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium in Chittagong is named after him. He had three daughters and two sons. His youngest son lives in poverty and struggles to make a living.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amin, Mohammed Ruhul 1934 births 1971 deaths Bangladesh Navy personnel People killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War Pakistani defectors Recipients of the Bir Sreshtho Mukti Bahini personnel People from Sonaimuri Upazila