Old Video Shared With False Claim of Gang Rape in Gazipur

A video has recently been shared on Facebook with the claim that a woman was gang-raped on a road in Gazipur while on her way to visit relatives. However, verification shows the claim is false. Media reports confirm the video is from an unrelated incident a month ago in Taraganj, Rangpur, where two men were beaten to death on suspicion of theft.

The caption of the video spreading on Facebook says: “On her way to visit relatives in Gazipur, a girl was gang-raped on the road. Her father’s head was smashed with a brick.” The 26-second clip shows a woman sitting on the ground crying, while members of law enforcement are seen questioning her. Background music in the video includes the lyrics, “This city weeps, people die.” At the time of writing this report, the video had been shared more than 600 times and viewed over 90,000 times. It has also been shared by several other Facebook pages and accounts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) with the same claim.

Reverse image search of multiple keyframes of the video discovered an identical video on the Facebook page of ATN News. That video was uploaded on August 11. Analysis of the 9:56-minute footage shows that the viral clip currently circulating on Facebook was cut from two different segments of this longer version. The first 15 seconds of the viral video match footage from 10 to 25 seconds of the ATN News video, while the next 11 seconds align with the portion from 55 seconds to 1 minute 6 seconds.

The description of the video posted by ATN News reads: “Went to fix the wedding date, son-in-law and father-in-law beaten to death on suspicion of theft”* The same video was also uploaded on the outlet’s YouTube channel.

For further verification, Dismislab conducted a relevant keyword search and found that several media outlets reported on the incident at the time. A report published in the daily Prothom Alo on August 10 stated that on August 9, two men were beaten to death on suspicion of stealing a van in Burirhat Battala area of Soya Union, Taraganj upazila of Rangpur. The victims were Ruplal Das of Kursha Union and Pradeep Das of Mithapukur.

The report also said Pradeep was traveling by van to Ruplal’s house to discuss his daughter’s marriage. When he lost his way, Ruplal came to guide him. On their way, locals stopped them at a place called Battala. Tension had been high in the area over recent van thefts. Mistaking them for thieves, locals beat them and left them unconscious in a school field, where they later died.

In the ATN News video, the crying woman can be heard naming Ruplal and Pradeep during police interrogation. Testimonies of locals in the video also match the details mentioned in the Prothom Alo report.

The video, therefore, is not of any gang rape in Gazipur. It is an unrelated incident from Rangpur a month earlier that is now being circulated on social media with a false claim.

Disclaimer: The original version of this report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on September 11, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.