A video of a man physically assaulting several women with sticks is going viral to claim that the visuals are from Bangladesh and show women being beaten for not wearing burqa.
Those sharing the video have uploaded it with a caption that said, "This is New Bangladesh. Women beaten on road for not wearing Burqa."
What is the truth?: The claim is misleading. While the incident is from Bangladesh, the video shows a man named 'HM Russel Sultan' beating sex workers in Dhaka.
What led us to the truth?: We noticed that the viral video had several watermarks with the same text that said "Islamic Media TV."
On searching for it on social media platforms, we found a Facebook handle with the same name.
We found the full version of the viral video published on 30 August.
Its description when translated to English said, "Please don't comment until the end. The main owner of them is the woman wearing this cloth. If you see it, kill it. It is your religious responsibility. Army police are in our support. Don't comment until you see the end. Please don't misunderstand me. Share the video as much as you can. Share at lightning speed so that everyone is alerted. Shyamoli Square..."
News reports: Taking 'Shyamoli' as reference, we performed a keyword search on Bangla with the words "শ্যামলী নারীদের মারধর" and found multiple news reports.
A report in Prothomalo said that sex workers across Dhaka have complained about being assaulted by some youths.
Three clips went viral that showed some people beating sex workers on the streets.
The report mentioned about one such video, which showed a man named 'HM Russel Sultan' wearing a mask and beating a woman with a green coloured pipe. The man was then seen hitting other girls and even took away a mobile phone from one of them.
Sharmin S Murshid, Social Welfare Ministry Advisor, told Prothomalo that the incidents were violations of human rights. Murshid added those causing these incidents would be punished.
Dhaka Tribune, in its report, said that the Samajik Protirodh Committee expressed their concerns over the assault of sex workers near Shyamoli Square shopping mall.
The statement that was signed by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Dr Fauzia Moslem talked about the incidents reported by media organisations.
Women attacked, harassed in Cox's Bazar: A recent report said that several women were assaulted and harassed by a group of men in Cox's Bazar. Clips of these incidents have been circulating on social media platforms. However, this video is not from that incident and neither is the narrative true. You can read the report here.
Conclusion: This video does not show women being beaten in Bangladesh for not wearing a burqa.
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