Fact Check /heft, Mugging, and Fire Incident Falsely Portrayed as Persecution of Religious Minorities

Several videos have recently been circulated from different accounts on social media platform X, claiming that members of Bangladesh's minority communities are being subjected to systematic persecution and communal attacks.

The viral posts claim that a Christian woman was assaulted for wearing a cross pendant, a Hindu man was thrown into a drain and pelted with stones because of his religion, and Islamist groups set fire to Hindu homes and shops in Patuakhali.

Ajker Patrika Investigation

An examination of the videos shared with these claims found that, although serious allegations of religious and communal persecution were made, no supporting sources or reports from credible news outlets were provided. Due to the questionable nature of the claims, an investigation was conducted into the original source, publication date, and context of the videos. The investigation found that the videos depict separate incidents, all of which have been taken out of context and falsely presented as cases of religious and communal persecution.

Claim That a Christian Woman Was Assaulted and Forced to Wear a Hijab

A video has recently been circulated claiming that a young Christian woman in Bangladesh was assaulted and sexually harassed for wearing a religious cross pendant and was subsequently forced to wear a hijab. However, no reports in the media or information from any reliable source were found to support the claim.

A reverse image search using several key frames from the video led to a Facebook page named "Mofizur Rahman," where an identical video had been shared on October 5, 2024. According to the caption, a female TikToker named Kohinoor was caught red-handed near Cox's Bazar City College after allegedly stealing a mobile phone inside Ramu City Park in Cox's Bazar and was confronted by local residents. The video is identical to the one being circulated with the false claim.

Further verification led to a TikTok account named "@cr_kohinoor_cox." A review of the account found that the appearance of the TikToker, Kohinoor, matches the woman seen in the viral video.

Further investigation also revealed that the same video had previously been circulated with a different false claim. A report published on October 14, 2024, identified the woman in the video as Kohinoor, a Rohingya Muslim from the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar who works as a TikToker.

In other words, an old incident in which a young woman was assaulted following allegations of theft is being falsely portrayed as an incident of religious persecution.

Claim That a Hindu Man Was Thrown Into a Drain and Stoned

On June 21, an X account named "Krishanu Singha" shared a video claiming that persecution of Hindus continues in Bangladesh. The post alleged that a Hindu man had been thrown into a large drain filled with dirty water and attacked with bricks, stones, and bamboo sticks.

An investigation found that the same video had been shared on June 17 by a page named "Qawmi Voice 24." The caption stated that an alleged mobile phone snatcher had been caught at Jatrabari Chowrasta intersection on June 16 and, despite jumping into filthy water to escape a mob beating, failed to avoid capture. The same information also appeared in text embedded within the video.

In addition, voices in the video can be heard calling the man a "thief," "snatcher," and accusing him of stealing people's mobile phones. The same information was found on several other pages and accounts.

To verify the incident, the Ajker Patrika fact-checking team contacted Uzayfa Al Mahadi, the administrator of the "Qawmi Voice 24" page. He said that theft and mugging frequently occur near the Jatrabari Grand Madrasa and that many people he knows have fallen victim to such crimes. On June 16, a man was caught while attempting to steal a mobile phone, and a video of the incident later spread across social media. He clearly stated that the incident had no religious or communal connection.

Claim That Hindu Homes Were Set on Fire in Patuakhali

On June 24, an X account named "@HinduVoice_in" shared a video claiming that Islamists vandalized and set fire to the homes of minority Hindus in Patuakhali town.

The caption alleged that systematic violence against the Hindu minority community is ongoing in Bangladesh. It claimed that Islamists vandalized five Hindu homes in Patuakhali town before setting them on fire, leaving the affected families in distress while the government and administration of Muslim-majority Bangladesh failed to provide any assistance.

To verify the claim, the investigation traced the "Ekhon Bangla TV" logo visible in the video. This led to a video posted on March 6, 2025, on the Facebook page "Ekhon Bangla Tv." The caption read: "All my certificates have been burned. What will we do now? Five homes and two business establishments have been reduced to ashes in Patuakhali."

In the video, one of the victims says that everything had been destroyed in the fire, including her laptop, books, certificates, and mobile phone. She further explains that the fire originated from a neighboring house occupied by a mentally unstable person and notes that fires had broken out there several times before.

A video report by Channel24 on the same incident also features a victim stating that a woman in the neighboring house had apparently fallen asleep after leaving a mosquito coil burning. The fire spread from the coil to bedding materials and eventually engulfed the nearby wooden houses.

Further investigation found reports published by the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), BanglaNews24, and several other mainstream media outlets. According to these reports, a devastating fire broke out at dawn in the area adjacent to the Mansa Temple on Jubilee School Road in Patuakhali district town. Four units of the Fire Service, assisted by police, Ansar personnel, and local volunteers, quickly brought the fire under control.

Although the affected families—including Joyantu Roy, Nirmal Karmakar, and others—were members of the Hindu community, neither the Fire Service nor the local administration found any evidence that the fire was caused by an attack, vandalism, or any religious or communal motive.

An examination of the X accounts responsible for spreading these fabricated and misleading claims found that their profiles list various states and regions of India in their bios. The accounts also regularly publish anti-Bangladesh and misleading content.