No, This Video Doesn’t Show the Gang-Rape of a Hindu Woman in Bangladesh

Syeda Anannya Faria, who had live-streamed these visuals, refuted the viral social media claim.

Fact-Check | This video is being shared on the internet with a false communal claim.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

(Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape)

A blurred video is going viral on the internet with a claim that it shows a Hindu woman being sexually assaulted by a mob belonging to the Muslim community during the recent violence in Bangladesh.

What have users said?: Identifying the location as Bangladesh, social media users shared the clip with a caption that said, "Imagine this happening to your families 10-15 years & being live streamed for people to watch and take sadistic pleasure. Context: #Hindu woman being gangraped by #Islamic mob, and the video is being live streamed on FB. #SaveHindusInBangladesh. (sic)"

You can view an archive of the post here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, the post had garnered around six lakh views. More archives of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.

What is the truth?: The video could be traced back to 16 July and shows students from Jahangirnagar University taking shelter when they were attacked by the members of Chhatra League, also known as Bangladesh Student League.

How did we find that out?: On searching for the caption on X, we came across a post that mentioned about the video actually being recorded in Jahangirnagar University. The user said that the incident was live streamed by one 'Syeda Ananya Faria.'

• Taking this forward, we searched for the name on Facebook and found an account called 'Syeda Anannya Faria'.

• We found the full version shared on the account on 16 July. The duration of this clip was around 12-minutes-long and did not show any person getting sexually assaulted in the viral clip as claimed.

The video was live streamed on 16 July.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

What did Anannya say?: Responding to our mail, Anannya refuted the viral claim and said that "there was no incident of rape or molestation, it was a documentation of a terrible attack by the cadres and goons of Bangladesh Students League (BSL) on the general students of Jahangirnagar University."

• She said that the incident took place on 16 July during the quota reform movement. Anannya mentioned that the students of the university had gathered in front of the vice-chancellor's residence for a peaceful protest after they were earlier attacked by BSL members.

• However, the protest soon turned violent after members of BSL along with other people attacked the students of Jahangirnagar university with petrol bombs, bricks, etc.

• "Soon, a number of students got injured, we all panicked that they will brutally kill us in no time. The VC locked his door, we cried to him to open the door and save us but he didn’t. Then some of us went on live and asked for help from the other students to come and save us", she told Team WebQoof.

• Anannya further shared multiple links with us, which showed live-streams by other students on the same date.

News reports: According to The Daily Star, around dozens were reported injured at Jahangirnagar University after clashes erupted between the Chhatra league (Student league) members and quota reform protestors and police.

• The report mentioned that around four media personnel and a teacher of the university were among those who were injured.

• It also mentioned that the entire incident happened near the vice-chancellor's residence.

The report was published on 16 July.

(Source: Daily Star/Screenshot)

Reaching out to a fact-checker in Bangladesh: Speaking to Team WebQoof, senior fact-checker at Rumor Scanner Bangladesh Tanvir Mahatab Abir confirmed that the video showed clashes between students at the Jahangirnagar University and Chhatra League members.

Conclusion: This video is being shared with a false communal angle.

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