Viral video: Man’s failed attempt to abduct estranged wife in Noakhali falsely shared as attack on Hindus

A distressing video of what appears to be a woman being carried by four men into a car is viral on social media with the claim that it shows a Hindu woman from Bangladesh being abducted by Muslims.

There have been several reports of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh since August 5 when the country was plunged into a state of crisis following former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation. On August 8, a new interim government took over with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as its chief advisor. The newly formed government assured on August 11 that they were working to stop incidents of attacks on minorities.

Premium subscribed X user Deepak Sharma (@SonOfBharat7) shared the above-mentioned clip on August 9 with a caption in Hindi that can be translated as: “Should I call them Islamic Jihadis or animals… In Noakhali, Bangladesh, monsters abducted a young Hindu girl and raped her at a crossroads. After they got tired of raping her, they left her there and fled. Keep sleeping, Hindus 🖐️” The tweet has received over 32,000 views and has been retweeted more than 1,400 times. (Archive)

Readers should note that the above user has been found amplifying misinformation several times in the past.

इस्लामिक जिहादी कहूं या जानवर..

बांग्लादेश के नोआखाली में दरिंदे एक छोटी हिन्दू बच्ची को उठा ले गए, और चौराहे पे उसके साथ रेप किया

जब रेप करके थक गए तो उसे यूँही पड़ा छोड़कर भाग गए..

सोते रहो हिन्दुओं 🖐️ pic.twitter.com/QUHmjxKlNg

— Deepak Sharma (@SonOfBharat7) August 9, 2024

Another premium subscribed X user Salwan Momika (@Salwan_Momika1) also shared the same video with the following caption: “Where are the eyes of the world? In Bangladesh, Muslims killed a Hindu family and kidnapped their daughter.” The tweet has received over 10.5 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 23,000 times. (Archive)

Where are the eyes of the world?

In Bangladesh, Muslims killed a Hindu family and kidnapped their daughter. pic.twitter.com/wsiZiYht4X

— Salwan Momika (@Salwan_Momika1) August 8, 2024

Several other users, including @SureshChavhanke (‘chief editor’ of propaganda outlet Sudarshan News), shared the viral clip with the same claim.

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Fact Check

After breaking down the video into several keyframes, we ran a reverse image search on some of them. This led us to a news report by a Bangladeshi news outlet called bdnews24. The report carried a screengrab of the viral video. The headline in Bengali can be translated as: “Husband who faced legal action attempts to abduct wife from her parental home”.

The report mentioned that the incident happened on August 8 in the Senbagh area of the Noakhali district of Bangladesh where a man attempted to abduct his estranged wife. As per the report, the man’s name was Prasenjit, and he arrived with nearly 17-18 people and two small buses to abduct the woman. However, the villagers were alerted by the woman’s screams and stopped the vehicles and caught Prasenjit and two others and handed them over to the Army.

The report further mentioned that the two got married four years ago but the woman was subjected to physical and mental abuse and eventually filed for separation. During one of the hearings at the court about a month and a half ago, Prosenjit along with a few others tried to abduct the woman from the court premises but were not successful.

Since this story did not contain the name of the woman, we looked for more detailed reports. An article by media outlet Sonali News identified the woman as Subarna Rani Pal, daughter of Dulal Chandra Pal. It also said that Prasenjit hailed from Cumilla.

On running a relevant keyword search in Bengali on Facebook we found several posts related on the incident.

Therefore, from the above findings, it is clear that the incident captured in the viral video is unrelated to the current unrest in Bangladesh. It is a case of marital dispute in a Hindu family.

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