TV reports used teenager’s laughter out of context after reported gang rape, fueling online abuse

An IV cannula was taped to her hand. Seated in a blue chair at a hospital in Thakurgaon, the teenager repeatedly tried to cover her face with her orna, a scarf worn with traditional clothing by South Asian women.

Only hours earlier, she had been rescued from a warehouse in a reported gang rape case. Now journalists were asking her to describe what had happened – on camera. Before the interview began, she briefly laughed after a journalist had made a joke, according to her family and journalists who were present. The moment was not part of the interview.

Bangla TV, a Bangladeshi broadcasting media, later included the scene three times in a five-minute video report, including once in a close-up shot of her face. The next day, on Facebook, Asian Television, another Bangladeshi broadcasting media, posted a video of the survivor with the caption: “Teenager laughs while describing her rape,” showing the same laughter scene without context.

The reports helped spread a claim on social media that the teenager had laughed while describing the rape. Cyberbullying, trolling, and victim-blaming followed. Dismislab found more than 200 public posts and videos across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and YouTube that reused the footage, screenshots, caption, or related images. Thousands of comments targeted the teenager. Her family informed Dismislab they had to leave their home under pressure from local residents, and later faced further pressure to leave a rented house as well.

This Dismislab report examines how two media outlets framed a rape survivor’s laughter out of context, how those reports appeared to breach legal restrictions on identity disclosure, and how the coverage exposed her and her family to online abuse and social pressure.

From hospital interview to video report

Dismislab reconstructed the events through reports by multiple media outlets, accounts from several journalists who were present at the hospital, and conversations with the teenager’s family.

Late on June 13, she was reportedly raped by three men in the Kalitala Bazar area of Thakurgaon Sadar upazila. About a week before the incident, she had met a young man named Tamim on social media, according to media reports.

Around 11 p.m. that night, Tamim took her to a warehouse near Kalitala Bazar, where two of his friends were already present. Police later detained the three men after finding them at the scene around 3 a.m. while on patrol in the area. The teenager was rescued from the warehouse early on June 14 and admitted to the Thakurgaon 250-Bed General Hospital.

Around 2 p.m., reporters of at least three media outlets — RTV, DBC News and Ekhon Television — interviewed the teenager at the hospital while she was undergoing treatment. 

Among the outlets whose representatives were present during the interview, RTV published a text report on its website, while Ekhon Television did not appear to have produced any report on the incident on its social media channels. DBC News published a video report on social media, in which the teenager was seen giving a statement with her face covered by cloth. The faces of two family members shown in the report were blurred.

How two TV reports framed the laughter scene

On the night of June 14, Bangla TV published a 5-minute 16-second video report on the incident on its YouTube channel and Facebook page. The report was titled: “Friends made a bet and ga/ng-ra/ped girlfriend continuously for 3 hours, afterwards….”

Bangla TV appeared to have obtained the footage from another source. Journalists who were present at the hospital told Dismislab that no Bangla TV correspondent was there when the teenager’s statement was recorded.

At the start of their report, the girl is shown sitting in a hospital chair with her face unblurred. She repeatedly tries to cover her face with her hand and scarf. Between the eighth and 12th seconds of the video, a person can be heard saying something from behind. The teenager then covers her face with her hand and laughs.

Bangla TV included the laughter scene three times in the report: in the beginning, at the 2-minute 39-second mark, and at the 3-minute 47-second mark. In the third instance, her face was shown in a close-up shot.

The report presented details of the incident through a journalist’s voiceover and interviews with the girl, her father, another family member and the officer-in-charge of Thakurgaon Sadar Police Station. The video also showed two members of the teenager’s family without blurring their faces.

By June 18, before it was removed, the YouTube video had received more than 1.5 million views, 16,000 likes, and 6,500 comments, many of them attacking the teenager.

On June 15, Asian Television posted a video report on Facebook. The headline read: “Teenager laughed while describing the ra*pe.”

The 2-minute 25-second report showed the teenager’s laughter scene three times: first at the 1-minute 3-second mark, then again at 1-minute 8-seconds and 1-minute 20-seconds.

In the voiceover, the narrator described the case and said the teenager had laughed while describing the incident at the hospital. The report also cited social media reactions questioning her conduct and suggesting that she had consented. 

Dismislab also reviewed the Facebook pages and YouTube channels of 12 television outlets in Bangladesh. Among them, Jamuna TV, Ekattor Television and Channel 24 had posted video reports on the incident, but neither used the laughter scene or showed footage that disclosed the teenager’s or her family’s identity.

The laughter scene was not part of the interview

The teenager’s brother-in-law later said in a Facebook video message that her laughter was not part of the interview, but came from a moment before it began. He said she laughed in response to a comment by a journalist who was present at the hospital, and that the moment was later used in the report.

To verify the timing of the scene, Dismislab spoke with the teenager’s family and journalists who were present during the interview.

The brother-in-law told Dismislab that after being admitted to the hospital, the teenager was physically unwell and unable to speak. After she was given saline through an intravenous drip, she gradually became able to speak, he said. According to him, a journalist known to the family made a comment in a joking tone, several people present laughed, and the teenager laughed after seeing them laugh. He also said she appeared embarrassed while speaking in front of multiple cameras.

Two journalists who were present gave similar accounts to Dismislab. They said the teenager laughed after a joking comment by another journalist who was there.

Dismislab also asked the three journalists who were present during the interview to share the raw footage of the teenager’s statement, as well as footage from immediately before and after it. One of the videos they shared shows that the teenager had laughed just before the interview began.

Based on the family’s account, the accounts of journalists present, and the footage reviewed by Dismislab, the laughter scene was not part of the interview. It came from a moment before the interview, when a journalist appeared to be trying to put the teenager at ease in front of the cameras.

The three journalists also told Dismislab that Mamunur Rashid, the Bangla TV reporter who was not present at the hospital, had obtained the footage from one of them.

Bangla TV reporter says digital department handled footage

When Dismislab contacted Bangla TV reporter Mamunur Rashid, he said he did not record the video, and that Bangla TV’s digital department may have collected and edited the footage separately.

“The digital department collects a lot of footage at times … they’re the ones who do the cutting, we don’t do the cutting,” Rashid said.

Dismislab later contacted Rakib-uz-Zaman, deputy in-charge of Bangla TV’s digital department. He said the footage had been sent from Thakurgaon to Bangla TV’s internal group, and that reviewing the content was his responsibility. He said the clip had escaped his notice.

“It came from there, it came from Thakurgaon itself, it was put in our group,” he said.

Dismislab also reached out to Asian Television and asked why it gave prominence to the teenager’s laughter. The outlet’s digital in-charge Aminul Islam said the report focused on the laughter because the teenager had gone out with someone she knew and because the footage appeared “unusual” to the newsroom.

He said local information suggested that the teenager and the accused men were close, and that “there was something deliberate about it.” He said the outlet focused on the laughter because, in his view, rape survivors are usually seen as visibly distressed. “Normally what happens … we normally see a scene with the victim where there’s a sense of suffering in them,” he told Dismislab. “But in whatever footage we got, there was something unusual in that footage.”

Laughter footage spreads on social media

By the time Bangla TV removed the video, footage of the teenager laughing had already spread across social media.

Dismislab analyzed at least 190 public posts that used Bangla TV’s caption, with or without additional commentary. Of those, 114 were on Facebook, 34 on Instagram, 27 on Threads, and 15 on YouTube. Using separate keyword searches, Dismislab also found 18 TikTok videos that used video or images of the teenager.

Among the posts reviewed, one by a page called Singra Times had the highest number of reactions and shares. Although the page is categorized as a “Personal Blog,” it regularly posts about news events. Its post reproduced Bangla TV’s caption verbatim and attached a video that showed the teenager’s laughter scene multiple times, using framing similar to Bangla TV’s report. The post had received more than 18,000 reactions, 3,000 comments and 300 shares, as of June 29.

Although Bangla TV removed the video from Facebook, its associated text remained online. The post received more than 300,000 reactions, 37,000 comments and 9,000 shares.

Dismislab also found posts that did not directly use Bangla TV’s caption but focused on the teenager’s laughter. In one video, a user used an image from the laughter scene and mocked the reported assault with a crude euphemism. The user also cited the laughter scene to suggest that her account was not credible. The post had more than 200 comments and had been shared more than 100 times, as of June 29.

A parody Facebook-page called “Jaura TV,” which mimics the graphics of popular Bangladeshi channel Jamuna TV, used an image from the laughter scene with a mocking headline  reading “Girlfriend overjoyed after being raped by twelve friends”. It garnered more than 3,000 reactions and 196 comments. 

Dismislab also found at least 2 AI-generated images based on the teenager’s appearance in the video. In one Facebook post, a user used a scene from Bangla TV’s report to create an image showing the teenager crying in the hospital, with the user presenting himself as comforting her. Another AI-generated image showed what appeared to be the teenager’s full face. However, in the videos reviewed by Dismislab, her face was not visible without her scarf. The image appeared to be an imagined version of her face.

Laughter became the focus of online attacks

An analysis of 100 comments on Bangla TV’s Facebook post found that 51 referred to the teenager’s laughter. In 24 comments, users cited the laughter to suggest she had enjoyed the assault. In 12 comments, users questioned why she was laughing, often with laughing emojis. In 14 comments, users said she appeared happy. The comments show how her laughter had become a central focus of the online reactions.

The teenager’s family told Dismislab that the backlash had affected their lives. Under pressure from local residents, they had to leave the house where they had been living. The family later moved into a rented house, but they said that the pressure to leave followed them there as well.

“What actually happened is, the villagers drove them out of the house where they were living,” her brother-in-law told Dismislab. “They’re now living in a rented house in the city. Because the matter went viral — because of that laugh, and because of a mix-up in the way things were said — she became the target of more trolling.”

When Dismislab spoke with the teenager’s father on June 21, he said there was also an attempt to drive the family out of the rented house in the city. He also mentioned the attempt stopped only after the superintendent of police intervened.

Laughter does not determine whether an allegation is true

Much of the online abuse reviewed by Dismislab centered on the teenager’s laughter. Some users treated it as a reason to question her account or blame her.

However, the research on trauma responses states that laughter, smiling, calmness, or a lack of visible distress cannot be used to determine whether an allegation is true.

A paper by End Violence Against Women International on victim responses during sexual assault says survivors may laugh after an assault, including while describing what happened. It adds that laughter, or appearing “normal,” should not be used as a basis for judging credibility.

An analysis published in Psychology Today explains that some people may smile while discussing trauma because of shyness, discomfort, or as an unconscious way to reduce the intensity of what they are describing.

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma also advises journalists to expect a range of reactions from survivors. Some may appear calm and composed, while others may be emotional, angry, withdrawn, or unable to speak.

Experts say coverage caused further harm and breached ethics

Professor Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, of the Department of Clinical Psychology at Dhaka University, said that psychological harm from rape can last beyond the immediate physical injury, and affect a survivor’s family, social life, and future relationships.

“The girl is already experiencing some of these effects — such as being ostracized by society, being forced to leave her home, and being branded as someone who made a false accusation,”

Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury told Dismislab.

He explained that the media coverage added another layer of harm. “Being put through a media trial before any judicial process has even begun is degrading for her, and this can add a fresh trauma on top of her original trauma,” he said.

Kamal added further that journalists should act with caution when reporting on sexual violence, particularly when the survivor is a minor. He said that the decision to interview the teenager at a hospital, while she was undergoing treatment, was not appropriate. “In the rush to boost readership, the media set ethical considerations aside,” he said.

Professor Abdullah Al Mamun of Rajshahi University also criticized the coverage, describing it as predatory journalism. 

International journalism guidelines also advise caution in reporting on sexual violence. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics says journalists should minimize harm, show compassion for people affected by coverage, and use heightened sensitivity when covering juveniles and victims of sex crimes.

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s guide to reporting on sexual violence advises against interviewing children who have survived sexual abuse unless absolutely necessary. It also says journalists should avoid including details that could reveal a survivor’s identity, and should focus on the allegation and public safety rather than sensationalizing the incident.

Two reports raised legal questions over identity disclosure

The Bangla TV and Asian Television reports raised not only ethical concerns but also legal ones. Professor Mamun said, “When interviewing a minor, one has to be far more sensitive. Journalistic ethics suggest a survivor’s video should not be published at all. Even if audio is published, the voice in it should be altered.”

Section 14 of the Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain, 2000, restricts the publication of information that can identify women and children who are survivors of offences covered by the law. The section bars newspapers, other news media, online platforms and social media from publishing a survivor’s name, address, photograph or other identifying information in a way that discloses their identity.

The law also sets penalties for such violations. Under Section 14(2), anyone responsible for breaching the restriction can face up to two years in prison, a fine of up to Tk 100,000, or both.

Both reports showed the teenager on camera without applying additional masking or blurring, relying instead on the fact that she had covered part of her face with a scarf. The reports also showed members of her family without blurring their faces, raising concerns that such coverage could disclose her identity.

Mamun said the two outlets presented the teenager’s situation in a misleading way and helped deepen the crisis facing her.

“These two media houses distorted the survivor’s vulnerability, presented it in a misleading way, and commercialized it.” 

Abdullah Al Mamun

Methodology

Dismislab reviewed social media posts, video reports and screenshots related to the Thakurgaon rape case between June 14 and June 18. For the social media analysis, Bangla TV’s original caption was used as the main search benchmark across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Threads. On TikTok, where the same keyword search could not be replicated, Dismislab used related Bangla keywords and visual matches to identify videos using the teenager’s image or footage.

Engagement figures, including reactions, comments, shares and views, were recorded as of June 29. For the comment analysis, Dismislab reviewed the first 100 visible comments on Bangla TV’s Facebook post and categorized them based on whether they referred to the teenager’s laughter, questioned the allegation, blamed her, mocked the incident or expressed support.

Dismislab also reviewed the Facebook pages and YouTube channels of 12 broadcast news outlets in Bangladesh to identify whether they had published reports on the incident and whether those reports used the laughter scene or disclosed the identity of the teenager or her family. Dismislab also spoke with the teenager’s family, journalists who were present during the hospital interview, and representatives of Bangla TV and Asian Television. Raw footage shared by journalists was reviewed to verify when the laughter scene occurred.