Two women killed in family dispute; fake claims circulate on Facebook
A video recently shared on Facebook claims that relatives of a local BNP leader raped two women. The video shows the women lying dead on a bed, with captions naming the women and stating that they have passed away. However, upon verification, it was found that the women were murdered due to a family dispute. No political involvement has been identified in connection with the incident.
Several Facebook users (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) have shared the same video, accompanied by a caption reading, “Breaking News: Local BNP leader Kamrul Hossain’s nephew, Palash Sharif, along with his associates, raped the women after breaking into their house. How many more rapes will Bangladesh witness?” The post also mentions the women’s names and addresses, stating that the incident occurred in Brahmanbaria and that the women had been killed.
The video shows two women lying dead on a bed, with several individuals in the room filming the scene. At the end of the 42-second video, an image of a man is also displayed. Throughout the video, the writing “RED NEWS TV” is visible.
To verify the authenticity of the incident, Dismislab initially searched Facebook using the keyword “RED NEWS TV” found in the video. This search led to a Facebook page where the same video was posted, along with the names of the victims and the location of the incident, Brahmanbaria. However, the post claimed, “Two sisters killed by their husband.” While the reason for the murder remains unclear, the post mentions a suspect named Mohammed Amir Hossain. Additionally, in the video, a person claimed that the husband fled after killing his wife and sister-in-law. The image shown at the end of the video is identified as that of the alleged killer.
To verify further about the incident, an online search was conducted using the names and identities of the victims. Several media outlets (1, 2, 3) have published reports mentioning the incident. Some reports (1, 2) also included the image of the suspect shown at the end of the video. All reports state that the husband fled after murdering his wife and sister-in-law, with family disputes cited as the cause of the killings. However, there is confusion regarding the name of the accused husband in the media reports. Some articles identify him as Amir Hossain, while others mention Samiul Islam, and some refer to him as Amir Hossain Samiul.
To clarify the confusion surrounding the name of the accused, Dismislab contacted Mohammed Abdul Kader, the officer-in-charge of Kasba Police Station in Brahmanbaria. He confirmed, “The name of the accused husband in this murder case is Samiul Islam, also known as Samir, and his father’s name is Faruk Hossain.” He also informed that the accused had been arrested in Chattogram.
So, it can be concluded that there is no involvement of the local BNP in the discussed murder case of these two women. The incident, which occurred due to a family dispute, is being misleadingly portrayed as a rape and murder committed by a relative of a local BNP leader.
