The article contains disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.
Two disturbing videos showing separate incidents of mob lynching of Awami League local government authorities in Bangladesh are being shared by Indian social media users with misleading and communal claims that Hindu men were lynched by Muslim mobs.
In the first video, a naked and mutilated body of a middle aged man is seen hanging from a structure at the centre of a street and attacked by the mob.
Bangladesh descended into chaos, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on August 5, 2024, following weeks of a bloodied crackdown on what started as anti-quota protests led by students. Reports of extensive looting, violence, vandalism, attack on government properties have surfaced post the fall of the Awami League government. The Daily Star reported that minority Hindus were attacked in at least 27 districts of the country.
The clip is circulating with the caption: "An old Hindu man is lynched and hanged on a statue. Islamists were seen raising Allah-Hu-Akbar slogans around him...The world must see this..The real face of Islamists.."
Click here for an archive of the video.
The second video shows a lifeless body of a man lying on the streets as a mob kicks and punches it. The video is being shared with the caption: Lynching of a Hindu man by IsIamists in #Bangladesh. Click here to view an archive of the video.
The video was shared by several right wing accounts on X (formerly Twitter) to amplify the false claims. It has since been deleted, after X users dismissed the communal narrative. Below is a screenshot of the X handles which had shared the video.
The screenshots of the lynching are also circulating on Facebook, with a false communal claim. Click here to view an archive of the Facebook post.
Fact Check
Video of corpse lying on ground
BOOM found an X post which claimed that the video is of an Awami League leader from Chandpur, Bangladesh. Click here to see an archive of the post.
Taking this as a lead, we reached out to Dhaka Post's chief reporter, Adnan Rahman. Rahman confirmed to BOOM that the incident is from Chandpur, where Selim Khan, the upazila chairman, Lakkhipur Model Union, Chandpur, was lynched to death. Chandpur is located in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh. Rahman further ruled out any communal angle to it. He told BOOM that the incident was also witnessed by Dhaka Post's Chandpur correspondent Anwarul Haq.
According to the report, Selim Khan and his son Shanto Khan were killed by a mob attack after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government. The two were caught while fleeing from their area.
BOOM also found several Facebook posts carrying the same image of Selim Khan lying lifeless.
Video of mutilated body hanging from street centre
BOOM found that the disturbing video of a senior citizen hanging from a street center is of the general secretary of Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila Awami League member and chairman of local Porahati Union Shahidul Islam Hiran. Jhenaidah is a city in the Khulna Division of south-western Bangladesh. According to a local YouTube channel, the incident happened on August 5, 2024. After Sheikh Hasina's resignation, Islam Hiron, 75, was attacked by a mob in Jhenaidah in his house. Hiron's house was set on fire and later his corpse was brought to the Pigeon area or Payra chattar and hung where several members of the mob attacked his corpse.
The same was corroborated by a news report by Manabzamin.
With Inputs: Team BOOM Bangladesh
