A video of a clash between student groups of opposing colleges in Dhaka, Bangladesh is being peddled with a false communal spin that it shows an assault on students from the Hindu community.
BOOM found that the incident in the video is from November 25, 2024, outside Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College in Dhaka, Bangladesh when students belonging to different colleges fought with each other.
Since the fall of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's government in August, Bangladesh has been a state of flux. Diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Dhaka's interim government have spiraled out of control on the issue of the arrest of Hindi monk Chinmoy Das, and the incidents of attacks on Hindu minority in the country.
Viral video shared with false communal spin
The 1 minute 16 seconds video is being shared on X with the caption, "At Mujibur Rehman College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hindu students are identified and beaten to death"
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FACT-CHECK: Video Of student groups clashing shared with communal spin
BOOM found that the incident in the viral video does not have a communal angle and shows students from different colleges, in a clash outside of the Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
In the viral video, at the 53 seconds timestamp we can see the name - 'Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College', written in English. Taking a hint from that we ran a keyword search which showed news reports from Bangladeshi news outlets reporting the incident.
Bangladesh news outlets reporting on student groups clash
Prothom Alo reported on November 25, 2024, that students from different college groups, the Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, and Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College (DRMC), had clashed outside Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College.
The violent clashes between these student groups in Dhaka’s Demra area resulted in injuries to over a hundred students and led to widespread damage reported Dhaka Tribune.
What triggered the attack on students from Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah?
According to media reports, the issue traces back to earlier violent protests by Mollah college students alleging negligence in the death of another student who was hospitalised due to dengue. During the agitations, a section of student groups from Kabi Nazrul and Suhrawardy colleges who were present clashed with the Mollah college students.
This incident sparked several violent outbursts and retaliatory attacks from student groups of all the three colleges, supported by other colleges.
The viral video is from one such clash on November 25, that occurred outside the Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College, leaving at least several students injured and college premises vandalised.
Media reports about the clashes do not attribute any communal angle to the same. Additionally, we also did not find any verified Bangladeshi media report claiming these clashes saw Hindu students being attacked.
The visuals in the below report also match with the sequence of events in the viral video.