Viral photo misrepresents Pirzada Hanzala as Shariatpur MP handling drug peddlers
A photo circulating on Facebook falsely claims to show Shariatpur’s newly elected member of parliament punishing marijuana peddlers in his constituency.
The image shows Pirzada Syed Uddin Ahmad Hanzala and identifies him as the new MP from Shariatpur. However, a fact-check by Dismislab found the claim to be false.
The photo, posted from an individual Facebook profile on February 14, drew mixed reactions. Many social media users praised the act, saying that handing the drug peddlers over to the police would be useless since they would bribe their way out. “Our country needs such MPs,” a comment in Bengali read.
Other users expressed concern over vigilantism, noting it undermines the rule of law. Another comment in Bengali read, “What’s the need for law or administration if they enforce their version of justice?”
Old incident from Madaripur
A reverse image search traced the photo to a report published in August 2024 on an incident in Shibchar upazila of Madaripur district—not Shariatpur.
According to media reports, including Channel 24 and Somoy TV, the event occurred on August 22, 2024, when four youths were caught allegedly while trying to buy drugs.
Locals detained them and contacted Pirzada Hanzala and his cousin, Pirzada Md Hossain, who physically assaulted the young men and forced them to perform sit-ups while holding their ears. Videos of the incident went viral several days later.
The image posted on Facebook matches a video frame later uploaded to YouTube by Protidiner Bangladesh on August 26, 2024.
Not Shariatpur’s MP
Hanzala was elected an MP from the Madaripur-1 constituency in the February 12 national election on a Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis ticket.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidates won all three parliamentary seats in Shariatpur—Saeed Ahmed (Shariatpur-1), Md Safiqur Rahman Kiran (Shariatpur-2), and Mia Nuruddin Ahmed Apu (Shariatpur-3).
There is no evidence that the viral image shows a recent event in Shariatpur or any disciplinary action by newly elected MPs there. The photo is from an August 2024 incident in Madaripur involving Hanzala, not a recent action.
The claim is false.
