Bimal Bhatta, 22, of ward 5 of Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality in Gorkha, was killed when police opened fire during the Generation Z protest in front of the Parliament building in New Baneshwar on September 8.

The shooting occurred around 3:30pm, with Bhatta collapsing after being hit in the chest and forehead. He was rushed to Civil Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead, according to his relative Sujan Bhatta.

Bimal had been living with his maternal uncle in Koteshwar for the past four years while studying at Pashupati Campus. He had joined the protest with friends. “He was at the front when the firing started,” Sujan said. “His friends rushed him to Civil Hospital, but he had already died by the time we got there.”

Family members said Bimal had told his uncle before leaving home that he wanted to join the movement for change. “He believed the country needed transformation,” Sujan said.

Bimal had gone back to his village in June to help with paddy planting and returned to Kathmandu only after Teej. Remembered in his community as sociable and with leadership qualities, his death has left his family devastated. His mother, Sita Bhatta, has not yet been informed of the tragedy, while his father, Ram Krishna Bhatt, 55, is in shock. “We told her he was injured in the leg,” Sujan said. “She keeps asking to talk to him, and we are trying to calm her.”

The youngest of three brothers, Bimal, came from a financially struggling family. Relatives said he often worried about corruption and unemployment in the country. He had been helping his uncle at work in Kathmandu while pursuing his studies and had hoped to find a job in Nepal or start a small business.

The family is preparing to receive his body from the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital on Saturday for the final rites.