A video of a symbolic protest in Bangladesh where a young woman is seen with her mouth gagged and wrists and ankles bound, is being shared by Indian right wing social media users with a false claim that it shows a Hindu woman targeted amid the ongoing turmoil in the country.
BOOM found that the video shows a symbolic protest in March this year by a student at Jagannath University in Bangladesh demanding justice for a student who died by suicide.
Widespread violence continued to rock Bangladesh following Sheikh Hasina's resignation as prime minister on August 5, 2024. Targeted killings of those associated with the former ruling party Awami League, policemen, and attacks on minorities have been reported. According to Prothom Alo on August 7, incidents of violence targeting homes, places of worship, and businesses belonging to religious minorities have occurred in various parts of the country since the fall of the Hasina government. Meanwhile, India has advised its nationals to avoid traveling to Bangladesh until further notice in view of the ongoing violence.
Amid this, several right-wing X handles including The Jaipur Dialogues shared the video with a caption, "Hindu Women in Bangladesh! They are being Raped and Killed! Hindus are staring at a Genocide in Bangladesh. These images and videos make you feel so helpless!"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post had already garnered over 1.7 million views on the platform till the time this fact-check was being written.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the video shows a symbolic protest that took place in March this year at Jagannath University in Bangladesh and does not show a Hindu woman being held hostage.
We first ran a keyword search in Bangla based on the visuals in the video and found several Facebook posts sharing the same footage. These posts claimed that the video shows a protest by a student at Jagannath University over the death of another student named Avantika.
In the video, we also noticed a text in Bengali that read, 'Jagannath University'.
Taking a cue, we conducted a related keyword search in Bengali and found an article published on March 17, 2024, by a Bangladesh-based portal The Daily Campus News. The article featured a photograph of the same girl participating in the street play.
The report stated that students at Jagannath University lit candles and did performance art on campus to demand justice for Fairuz Avantika, a student who had died by suicide. It further noted that on Sunday, March 17, students held separate torch marches under the banners and placards of 'Jagannath University Against Oppression' in the university ground.
We also found a Channel 24 video published on their official YouTube channel on March 18, 2024, covering the same protest at Jagannath University.
Bdnews24.com on March 16, 2024, reported that Avantika died by suicide after posting a Facebook note in which she accused her classmate, Amman Siddique, of sexually harassing her with online comments, and Assistant Proctor Din Islam of defending Siddique and threatening to expel her while using 'misogynistic and abusive' language.
On July 31, 2024, The News reported that the same video had earlier gone viral in Bangladesh, claiming it showed an assault on a Chhatra League leader, which is the student wing of the Bangladesh Awami League. The News later spoke to the student featured in the video, who clarified that she was not involved in any political activities and that the video did not show any torture.
The student from Jagannath University also confirmed that the street drama she participated in was aimed at demanding justice for Avantika's death.