Bangladesh has plunged into chaos followingthe ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaon August 5, which came after weeks of riots.
Initially peaceful protests by studentsescalated into a broader movement demanding an end to Hasina's increasingly authoritarian leadership.
After her resignation, crowds stormed the prime minister's palace, vandalizing it along with other state-owned buildings and homes of members of the governing Awami League party.
According to Indian and local media, attacks on houses, places of worshipand businesses belonging to religious minorities took place across the country. Hindu temples were targeted in several cities, including Natore, Dhaka, Patuakhali, and Jessore. In response, severalstudents and clerics reportedly gathered in front of the temples to protect them from mob violence.
Like its neighbor India, Bangladesh has a history of religious tensions between its Hindu and Muslim communities. In recent years, the Bangladeshi Hindu minority, which makes up 8% of the population, has been targeted by violent mobs several times. However, many reports about the attacks on Hindu temples and communities by Bangladeshi protesters were not true.
DW Fact Checkhas investigated a few viral cases.
Hindu cricketer's house 'set on fire'
Claim: "Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer Liton Das' house has been set on fire"
A post on X(formerly Twitter) alleged that the house of Liton Das, a famous Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer,had been set on fire, sharing a collage of two pictures as evidence.
In one image a young man can be seen sitting next to a Hindu place of worshipand the other image showsa burning house. More than amillion users haveseen the post. The collage was also shared by numerous other accounts with similar claims.
DW fact check: False
The man in the picture is indeed Liton Das, and a reverse image search shows that the image was taken from his official account. However, the burning mansion is not his home. A reverse search of that image leads to media reports about former Bangladesh cricket team captain Mashrafe Mortaza's housebeing set on fire by protesters.
DW alsogeolocated the house and confirmed it belonged to Mortaza, who became a target due to his political activities and close alliance with Hasina's Awami League party.The Muslim sportsman was a member of parliament, having won aseat for the second consecutive time as an Awami League candidate during the general elections held in Bangladesh earlier this year.
Claims about rape,sexual harassment of Hindu women
There are many claims circulating on various social media platforms about sexual violence against women from the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. Two have been shared multiple times and viewed thousands of times. But someare old, and some have been proven to be earlier events presentedout of context, like this case.
Claim:Avideo shows Muslim men waving a Hindu woman's underwear
The poston X says, "Look carefully at these Bangladeshi Muslims: Hindu girls' bras were removed and then they were raped. Now he is roaming the streets with that bra shamelessly and presenting proof of his manhood." As of publication, the post had about 30,000 views.
DW fact check: False
The 23-second video shows protesters storming the prime minister's official residence. Many pictures and videos have been published online showing rioters looting Hasina's belongings, including her clothes and underwear since she fled the country. In the lastseconds of the video, a building with red-brown walls is visible, resembling Ganabhaban, the official residence of the Bangladeshi prime minister.
A comparison of the building in the video and images of Ganabhaban from agency footage shows that the building is indeed the official residence ofthe former prime minister. In thephoto below, the palm trees and window shapes matchthose seen in the last seconds of the video.
Another post on Xshares a screenshot of a Telegram post with a tilted picture of a woman being restrained, accompanied by Bengali text threatening Hindus and encouraging violence to drive them back to India.
Claim: A Hindu woman was sexually assaulted and gang-raped by a group of Muslim men at the University of Dhaka.
Thispost(warning: extreme, graphic violence) waspublishedon August 2, three daysbefore Hasina fled the country. But it has been increasingly shared by numerous other accounts in recent days, to date garneringmore than 30,000 views.
The caption reads: "The so-called Jamaat-e-Islami quota protesters leaked a video of the gang rape of a Hindu girl to the Islamic army group. If Hasina's government falls, they have threatened to rape all Hindu girls out of their homes."
DW fact check: False
A reverse image search ofthatsame screenshot has been shared in past years with claims of rape and sexual abuse, but from different regions. For example, it wasattributed to a gang rape in the Indian province of Manipurin 2023, claiming to show Hindu men kidnapping and gang-raping a Christian girl. In 2021, it went viral in Indonesia, claiming to show an Indonesian migrant worker woman tortured and raped by five Bangladeshi citizens.
The Indian fact-checking platform Boom traced the video back to its origin in East Bengaluru's Ramamurthy Nagar in May 2021, where police arrested 12 Bangladeshi nationals, including three women, for the assault and rape of a 22-year-old.
AI images also used to stir emotions
The plethora of unverified socialposts aimed at heightening ethnic tensions in Bangladesh haven't just used old or manipulatedimages and videos. Content generated by artificial intelligence has also played a role.
One AI-generated image is going viral on platforms like Xand Facebook. It depicts a massive crowd gathered around a towering flagpole with the Bangladeshi flag waving at the top, under a hazy sky. The scene suggests a large-scale event or demonstration, symbolizing national pride and unity.
The image exhibits typical signs of AI generation. The figures on the pole have disfigured, abnormal legsand the perspective is off, with the vertical pole and the background crowd view appearing unusual. Additionally, the proportions of the people on the pole and those below do not match. Several pieces of rope seem to float in the air without connection.
Modified versions of this graphic have also been used to promote claims ofethnic violence. For instance,one version includesthe words "ALL EYES ON BANGLADESH, SAVE HINDUS." AnotherAI-generated photomaking the rounds shows a burning Hindu temple with the superimposed"ALL EYES ON BANGLADESH HINDUS" text. The foreground depicts numerous bodies lying on the ground, with blood and debris, creating a scene of violence and destruction.
AndreasWisskirchen contributed to this report.
