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| - Fact Check: Hindu woman beaten for not wearing Hijab on Bangladesh? Here's the truth
India Today Fact Check has found that the victim in this incident is a Muslim, and according to the police, they belong to the third gender.
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India Today Fact Check
Police confirmed that the incident occurred on September 11, 2024, involving Aarohi Islam, a Muslim from the third-gender community, who was harassed by locals.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri recently visited Bangladesh to strengthen bilateral ties. Following his visit, Bangladesh's interim government announced that 88 cases had been registered, with over 70 individuals detained for violence against minorities, after initial denial of any persecution against the minorities.
Now, a shocking video of a group of men surrounding and hitting a woman with a stick and forcing her to do sit-ups while holding her ears has gone viral on social media. Those sharing this clip claimed that it showed radical Islamists beating a Hindu woman at Cox's Bazar sea beach for not wearing a hijab.
"Bangladesh: Radical Islamists beat up a Hindu tribal woman for not wearing a hijab on Cox's Bazar sea beach. Secularism is for those places where Hindus, Christians, or Buddhists are in the majority; otherwise, Sharia will be imposed. We need to act ASAP to save 18 million Bangladeshi Hindus," reads captions accompanying this video.
India Today Fact Check found that the incident dates back to September this year, and the victim here is not a Hindu but a Muslim. Also, the police identified them as third gender.
OUR PROBE
A search of the keyframes from the viral video took us to a different video of the same incident, uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Channel i News on September 14, 2024. The video description mentioned a 23-year-old man named Mohammad Farukul Islam, who got arrested after the video went viral.
Subsequent keyword searches revealed several Bangladeshi news reports published in Prothom Alo, Dhaka Tribune, Dainik Bangla, Ajker Patrika, and BBC Bangla. As per these reports, Cox's Bazar Beach police arrested Farukul and confirmed that the original incident took place on September 11, involving a 20-year-old victim named Aarohi Islam, who is a Muslim.
The reports also cited police statements identifying Aarohi as belonging to the third gender. The incident occurred around 10 pm on the Sugandha Point of Cox's Bazar beach when Aarohi was roaming with a friend.
We also found a Facebook video on Channel i News's page featuring the statement of Aarohi Islam and the additional police super of Cox's Bazar, Jasim Uddin Chowdhury.
Here, Aarohi accused the attackers of labelling her with faulty charges of being associated with the Chattra League, the student wing of Sheikh Hasina's party, Awami League. On the other hand, Chowdhury was heard saying that the police responded promptly and held the main accused. He also confirmed that the victim was identified as Aarohi Islam, who belonged to the third gender.
Thus, it is more than evident that a three-month-old incident from Cox's Bazar Beach was falsely shared with a communal spin.
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