Two year old photo falsely shared as Hindu youth beaten to death in Patiya
A photo has recently been circulating on Facebook with the claim that a Hindu youth was beaten to death in Patiya, Chattogram, over allegations of religious defamation, causing tension in the area. However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the incident shown in the photo took place two years ago. A man named Partha Biswas Pintu, who was arrested in Patiya over allegations of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), was produced before a court in September 2024.
On September 23, a photo was posted from a Facebook page named “Indian Defence Policy And Reality” with the caption, “Hindu youth allegedly beaten to death in Patiya, Chattogram, over allegations of religious defamation, tension spreads in the area.” Citing local sources and various reports, the post claimed, “A group of Muslim men and madrasa students beat a Hindu youth named Partha Biswas, leaving him critically injured. Partha Biswas was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he died while undergoing treatment.” Until the publication of this report, the post had been shared nearly 500 times.
The same claim was also found posted from multiple Facebook profiles and pages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
A relevant keyword search found a report published by bdnews24 on September 30, 2024. The report, titled “Attack on Patiya police station over taking away accused in Facebook ‘derogatory remarks’ case,” said that Patiya police and the Detective Branch arrested a man named Partha Biswas Pintu, a resident of Patiya, Chattogram, over allegations of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). After news of his arrest spread, a group of people attempted to take him away. During the incident, Patiya police station was attacked, as was an army vehicle.
Another report published by Dhaka Post the same day, citing Chattogram district police, said that during preliminary questioning, the man admitted to making derogatory remarks about religion on Facebook and was produced before a court.
A reverse image search to verify the circulating photo found a video report published on September 30, 2024, on Samakal’s YouTube channel. The 4-minute 9-second report, titled “Attack on Patiya police station over taking away accused in Facebook ‘derogatory remarks’ case,” contains a scene at the 2-minute 26-second mark that matches the circulating photo.
However, because of inconsistencies in some parts of the photo, Dismislab examined whether it had been edited using artificial intelligence. An analysis using OpenAI’s own content detection tool indicated that an OpenAI tool had been used to create the image and that it contained a SynthID watermark. In addition, the AI image detection tool Sightengine identified the image as 99% AI-generated.
For further information, Dismislab contacted Patiya police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Ziaul Haque. He confirmed to Dismislab that there had been no recent incident in Patiya in which a Hindu youth was beaten to death. District Court Inspector Habibur Rahman also said that Partha Biswas had spent some time in jail in connection with the case and was later granted bail. The investigation into the case has not yet been completed.
In other words, Partha Biswas Pintu, who was arrested in Patiya in 2024, was sent to jail through a court order and did not die. A photo from that incident has been edited using AI and is now being circulated with the false claim that a youth was recently beaten to death.
All social media captions, quotations, and news excerpts in this article have been translated into English from the languages in which they were originally posted or published.
