A scripted video of a man touching women inappropriately to diagnose their illnesses has been circulating online with a false communal claim that it shows a real incident where an Islamic preacher was treating medical problems of his followers.
BOOM found that the video is scripted and produced by a company based in Bangladesh; the company claims to raise awareness about such deceptive practices.
In the video a man is shown lying on a bed while several people approach him seeking blessings. Later, he is seen touching women inappropriately in an attempt to treat their medical problems.
Right-wing influencer Mr. Sinha, who was previously fact-checked multiple times by BOOM for spreading misinformation online, shared the video with the caption, "What kind of idiocy is it? I blame these women for going to such frauds... And if something goes wrong, everybody will blame the govt.."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post has garnered 4.2 million views on the platform at the time of filing this report, accompanied by comments from several users who believed the video to be of a real incident.
The video is also being circulated with a similar misleading claim in Hindi.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
In the video, BOOM first observed a "Peace TV" watermark, and the individuals were speaking in Bengali. We ran a related keyword search and found a Facebook page named 'Peace Tv BD'.
We found a longer version of the same video that was posted on the Peace Tv BD Facebook page on January 30, 2024.
Click here to view the post.
According to the Facebook page's 'About' section it is a media company based in Barisal, Bangladesh, with over 1.4 million followers. Additionally, at the end of the longer video, a message in Bengali appears, warning viewers, "It is our duty and responsibility to protect ourselves from such babas."
A title card in the video also stated that it was 'directed' by 'Peace Multimedia'.
We further found a YouTube link that directed us to a verified YouTube channel named 'Mahc Drama Tv.' We then observed that the channel features several dramatic videos, similar to the now viral one.
In videos published by the YouTube channel, the same actors can be seen featured in various roles. The same drama premiered on the YouTube channel on January 31, 2024.
An excerpt from the channel's description states, "Mahc Drama TV is The Largest Islamic Content and Producer organization in Bangladesh. we have uploaded, Islamic issues, Interviews, educational events, recent news, Short Film, Islamic Drama, Professional Skill Development Training, Islamic Song, Movies, Islamic Lecture, Short Natok, Drama If you want to learn about Educational events, recent news, discussion-criticism, feedback and Islamic issues, please keep an eye on the Mahc Drama TV channel."