Christian Tribal woman beaten for not wearing Hijab on Bangladesh? Know the truth

This video shows an incident occurred on 11September, 2024 when villagers harassed Aarohi Islam, a Muslim from the third-gender group.

A video is circulating on social media showing a group of men harassing a woman, with claims that it shows a Christian tribal woman being assaulted by Muslim men in Bangladesh for not wearing a hijab. In the video, the woman is seen being forced to do squats as a form of punishment by one of the men, while a large crowd of onlookers surrounds her.

The caption of the post states, “Bangladesh: Radical Muslim mob beat up a Christian tribal woman for not wearing hijab in Cox’s Bazar Sea beach”.

Let’s check the truth

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google with the key frames of the video and we found an extended version of the video uploaded on the Channel i News’s official YouTube channel on 14 September, 2024. As per the video description, the main accused, Mohammad Farukul Islam, was arrested after the incident gained public attention.

Moving forward, we found many reports regarding this incident from Bangladeshi media. Ajker Patrika article features matching visuals from the viral video. The article reported the victim as Arohi Islam, a transgender Muslim.

The title of the report reads, “The victims of harassment at Cox’s Bazar beach are of the third gender, as per the complaint filed.” According to the report, several women and transgender persons were harassed and assaulted by Mohammad Farukul Islam at the Sugandha Beach area of Cox’s Bazar. The Ajker Patrika report stated that the victim is Arohi Islam, who identified herself and other victims/witnesses as belonging to the third gender.

According to a report in Dainik Bangla , Aarohi accused the attackers of falsely accusing her of being associated with the Chattra League, the student wing of Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party. She was not a Christian or Tribal woman, nor was she attacked for hijab.

So, the viral video claiming a Christian tribal woman was attacked for not wearing the hijab in Bangladesh is false.

Conclusion- 

Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This video shows a Muslim from the third gender group being assaulted under the false accusation of being a member of the student wing of the Awami League. This incident dates back to September 2024.