Video claiming torture over ‘supporting Awami League’ from different incident
A video was recently circulated on the social media platform Facebook claiming that a woman in Shariatpur was tortured under false accusation of theft because she supports the Awami League. However, a fact-check by Dismislab reveals that the claim is not true.
According to media reports, a housewife had a dispute with debtors regarding the repayment of borrowed money. In this context, the woman was beaten and tied to an electric pole over allegations of involvement in drug sales and a honey trap. According to media reports, the incident occurred on June 13 in the Shabnur Market area of the Uttar Palang locality under Shariatpur Municipality.
On June 15, a video was posted from a personal Facebook profile with the caption, “Because the family members support the Awami League, a woman was tortured in a medieval manner by being tied to a pole with black ink smeared on her face under the false accusation of theft. The incident took place in Shariatpur Sadar, Palang police station.” In the 28-second video, a woman wearing a pink salwar kameez is seen tied to a pole. Black ink is seen on the woman’s face, and shoes are seen hanging from her neck. Up until the writing of this report, the video has been shared 950 times and viewed more than 49,000 times.
The video was posted with the same claim from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) personal Facebook profiles and pages.
To verify the truth, a reverse image search using keyframes led to a video report published on June 13 on Jamuna TV’s YouTube channel. The title of this report was: “Dispute with neighbour; woman beaten in medieval manner in Shariatpur.” The detailed description of the report read, “In Shariatpur, allegations of beating and cutting the hair of a mother of two children have arisen over charges of selling drugs. The incident occurred in the morning in the Palang Shabnur Market area of the municipal locality.” The police stated that a dispute arose between the victim and neighbour Delwar over financial transactions. Following an altercation over this, at one point the victim was beaten, her hair was cut, and under allegations of selling drugs, tar was smeared on her face, a garland of shoes was placed around her neck, and she was tied to an electric pole. The video used in this report is an exact match to the circulated video.
Upon further investigation, a written report by ATN Bangla published on June 14 was found. The clothing of the woman and the surrounding scenes in the photo used in this report match the circulated video. The report read, “An incident occurred in Shariatpur where a woman was beaten and tied to an electric pole on allegations of being involved in drug sales and a honeytrap. At this time, allegations have arisen that her hair was cut, black ink was smeared on her face, and a garland of shoes was placed around her neck. Later, the police arrived and rescued her.”
A Prothom Alo report stated, “Based on conversations with the police of Shariatpur Sadar’s Palang Model Police Station and residents, it was learned that the wife (37) of an expatriate from Shariatpur Municipality resides at home with her children. She had lent money to the family of Delwar Kotari and a few local individuals of that area. A dispute began between them and the housewife over the repayment of the borrowed money.”
Additionally, the incident was referred to in multiple (1, 2, 3) media outlets as an event of a woman being tortured over allegations of selling drugs. It is noteworthy that none of the reports mentioned anything regarding the woman’s political identity.
That is to say, a video of a different incident is circulating with the claim that a woman was tortured in Shariatpur for supporting the Awami League under the false pretext of theft.
