A video of a seemingly distressed woman crawling out of a bush in wet clothes is viral on social media. Users are sharing this footage with the claim that she is a Hindu woman, who was raped and tortured in Bangladesh.
In the video, the crowd surrounding the woman shines a torchlight on her and calls for her to come out while others assure her that she won't be beaten up. Those sharing the video allege that the no one helped the tormented woman who was being made fun of by "extremists". The incident is purportedly from Narayanganj in Bangladesh.
The neighbouring country has been in the eye of flaring communal tensions for some time now.
The above video was shared by Faraz Pervaiz (@FarazPervaiz3) on X (formerly Twitter) on December 27, 2024 with a caption saying that a Hindu woman was brutally raped in Araihazar village in Narayanganj while Muslims made fun of her.
The post garnered around 44,000 views.
The claim was further amplified by X account Rinti Chatterjee Pandey (@mainRiniti), who shared Asifur Rahaman Chowdhury's post the following day. The translated text reads, "A Bangladeshi Hindu woman is raped by several people and then a video is being made. Not even a single person came to save her, and our government is sending rice to feed Bangladeshi dogs. This is too much."
The post garnered around 1.5 million views.
Another X user, Asifur Rahman Chowdhury (@Asifurrahman71), also shared the video with a similar claim and the hashtag #SaveBangladeshiHindu. His post had around 206,000 views.
Several others also shared similar claims. You can see them in the gallery below.
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Fact Check
A keyword search led us to a news article by Bangladeshi media outlet Somoy News. The report, published on December 27, 2024, features an image similar to the visuals in the viral video. According to this report, the previous day, a group of seven or eight people were trying to steal a car from Ilumdi road in Kahindi village, Araihazar, Narayanganj. However, the residents soon realised what was happening and began chasing the robbers, who then tried to escape. However, one of the robbers, Billal, was caught by the mob and lynched to death. The mob also spotted an alleged associate of Billal, a woman named Lovely. In a bid to save herself, this woman reportedly jumped into a canal. The report identifies her in an image, making it clear that it is the same woman seen in the viral video.
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The villagers rescued her and handed her over to the police. She was then sent to the Araihazar Upazila Health Complex.
Confirming the incident, assistant superintendent of Araihazar police, Mehedi Islam, told Somoy News that the deceased robber, Billal, was a known criminal with at least nine pending cases. He had been named in murder and robbery cases in the past. He said that the woman, Lovely, had been arrested and they were preparing to file a case against her, adding that the 25-year-old woman was also beaten up by the mob.
Dhaka-based news outlet Prathom Alo reported that during initial investigation, Lovely admitted to being associated with the gang of robbers that escaped but later denied any involvement. She claimed that she was a sex worker and with a client in the area at the time of the incident. Reportedly, scared after people began screaming, she tried to run away but was caught and beaten up by people, who suspected she was with the gang of robbers. She then jumped into the canal to escape, the report said.
During our investigation, we found a video uploaded on the Facebook page of local news portal, Araihazar Times, on December 27, 2024. The caption refers to the woman as Lovely Begum. In this, she can be heard saying that she was attacked by robbers while travelling in an auto-rickshaw. They took her hostage while the auto driver fled and informed local residents. This led to the now-deceased robber getting lynched and Lovely was also beaten as a suspect.
https://www.facebook.com/AraihazarTimes/videos/623304946810697
Alt news spoke to a Bangladeshi journalist who confirmed that the woman seen in this video was named Lovely and she was not a Hindu. Neither was she raped. She jumped into a canal to save herself from the being beaten up by the angry villagers, who presumed she was involved in a robbery.
Thus the viral video has been falsely given a communal angle. The woman in the clip is not a Hindu. Her name is Lovely Begum and she belongs to the Muslim community. She jumped into a canal to save herself from being beaten up by the villagers, who believed she was involved in a robbery.
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