A distressing video of a group of men forcefully carrying a woman and putting her into a vehicle in Bangladesh is circulating with a misleading communal claim on social media.
The video has been shared by multiple X handles and Facebook users to claim that a Hindu minor girl was abducted by Muslims after her entire family was killed.
Bangladesh had slid into massive unrest and political chaos after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country surreptitiously on August 5. Reports of violence against the minorities have surfaced amidst massive law and order breakdown, vandalism, looting and killings of members of the previous regime of Awami League. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged economist and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took charge as the head of Bangladesh's interim government on August 8, to ensure safety of Hindus and other minorities.
The viral video has been shared by X user Rashmi Samant with the caption, "The "student protesters" of Bangladesh kill an entire Hindu family and abduct their daughter. Where are the champions of Human Rights?" Click here for an archive of the X post.
Warning: The video is disturbing in nature. Viewer discretion is advised
The video was also posted by X user Hindu Voice and Salwan Momika with misleading claims that Muslims abducted the minor Hindu girl in Noakhali after killing her family
Sudarshan News Hindi and Bangla also posted the video on X with the same false communal claim.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search on Facebook in Bangla: 'Noakhali woman abduction' and found several posts along with the viral video that stated that the video is from Noakhali's Senbagh, an upazila of Noakhali district in south-eastern Bangladesh.
We also came across a Live video by a Facebook user Mahfuz Alam with the caption that claimed that the incident happened in Moishai village of Senbagh, Noakhali. The Live was recorded on August 8, around 6 pm.
According to the caption of the Live video, three abductors were caught by the Bangladesh Army, while the remaining 14 escaped in another vehicle.
BOOM reached out to Alam, who confirmed that the incident is from Noakhali's Senbagh, where a Hindu man separated from his Hindu wife, planned the abduction. The incident reportedly took place on August 8. Alam told BOOM, "The incident happened in our village. A Hindu man named Prasenjeet came to forcefully take his ex-wife Sumana along with a team of his friends. As she did not want to stay with him, they forcefully put her into a car and tried to flee. Later, when local people apprehended them, most of them ran away in the car. We were able to catch three of them, along with the husband. We then handed them over to the Bangladesh Army. Two of the three men in the video are Muslims and friends of the husband. The Army later interrogated them and released them." Alam further told BOOM that the incident is a family matter and ruled out any communal angle to it.
The Facebook Live features visuals of the husband and his friends after he was apprehended by the locals and tied.
BOOM then reached out to Abu Naser Monju, a local Noakhali reporter and the secretary of the Noakhali Press Club. Monju confirmed to BOOM that the matter was a domestic problem. He said, "The man is from Cumilla district and is legally separated from his wife. He took advantage of the situation in Bangladesh right now, where there is no police administration in place and tried abducting his ex-wife." Monju further told BOOM that both the husband and wife are adults and had an arranged marriage a couple of years ago. "The woman has been staying at her father Dulal's house for more than two years. While two Muslim men were also caught in the abduction process, the kingpin is the ex-husband who hatched the plan. The locals have ensured that he stays away from the woman as they are separated."