A viral video from July of a group of women tying up two other women to a pillar, is being shared with a false and communal claim that it shows violence being meted out to Hindu women in Bangladesh.
BOOM found that the while the video is from Bangladesh, it is not from the current violent incidents being reported and shows students opposing the quota reform movement clashing with members of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League.
Sheikh Hasina, a member of the Awami League stepped as prime minister and fled from Bangladesh as a nationwide student led movement against her government culminated on Monday. Even as her exit is celebrated, the currently rudderless country is seeing a violent retaliation against members and allies of the Awami League, including those from the country's Hindu minority. Media reports state that Hindus in at least 27 districts of the country have been attacked with violent visuals capturing the brutal attacks.
The viral video which shows a group of women tying up other women to a pillar while threatening and verbally abusing them is being shared with claims that they are Hindus being attacked in Bangladesh.
A verified X user posted the video with the caption, "Save the #Hindus in #Bangladesh. They are being subjected to genocide by Muslims and their women are being taken captive and sold, as happened to us in Iraq."
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the while the video is from Bangladesh, it is not from the current violence being reported and also does not have any communal hue as being claimed in the viral posts.
We first ran a reverse image search on a keyframe from the video and found several news stories dated July 17, 2024 stating that it shows students of the Begum Badrunnessa Government Women's College in Dhaka tying up fellow students who were also members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League.
A report by Bangla news portal JagoNews24 carried a screengrab from the same viral video with the story title translating in Englist to, "The students tied the BCL workers, made them sit by their ears"
The report further detailed that the students being tied were members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the students wing of the Awami League, the party led by former prime minister Hasina. According to the JagoNews24 report, students who were a part of the quota reform movement clashed with the Chhatra league members in the college and then in the residential dormitory occupied by the students, where the BSL members were tied up and later punished by being made to do sit ups in public.
Using this as a clue, we ran a specific keyword search in Bangla on YouTube and found several news reports from local media outlets about the incident.
Dhaka Age reported on the incident and carried clearer visuals of the women being tied up by other students where it is clearly visible that one of the students being tied is wearing a burqa, the religious attire donned by Muslim women.
The news reports stated that the female students were tied up only for their connection with the Chhatra League with no mention of any communal angle to the same.
Additionally, we also found other media reports detailing several similar incidents from July of violent clashes between members of Chhatra League supporting the quota system and those opposing the quota reform movement.
