Recently, a photo of an affidavit featuring three people was circulated on the social media platform X, with the claim that Badal Chandra Shil from Cumilla converted to Islam along with his family under pressure to protect his wife’s honor.
View the posts promoting this claim on X here: Here (Archive), Here (Archive), Here (Archive), Here (Archive)
From the X account named Voice of Bangladeshi Hindus, it was claimed:
“To live in Bangladesh, you must convert to Islam. Badal Chandra Shil from Cumilla converted to Islam along with his family under pressure to protect his wife’s honor.”
From the X account Pakistan Untold, it was claimed:
“To save the lives of my wife and child, I was forced to convert to Islam and abandon my religion… Under pressure from Islamists, Bangladeshi Hindu Badal Chandra Shil converted to Islam along with his entire Hindu family.”
See the Facebook post promoting the same claim here (Archive).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation found that the claim—Badal Chandra Shil from Cumilla converted to Islam under pressure from his family to protect his wife’s honour—is false. Rather, an incident from 2021, in which Badal Chandra Shil, his wife Shipra Rani Shil, and their son Arko Chandra Shil voluntarily converted to Islam, is being re-circulated now with misleading claims.
The investigation located a report published on April 29, 2021, on the website of the local online news outlet Daily Cumilla News, titled “Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Cumilla’s Burichang.” The photo used in that report matches the image circulated with the current claims.
According to the report, “In the village of Mokam in Mokam Union under Burichang upazila of Cumilla, three members of the same family left Hinduism and converted to Islam. On Wednesday (April 28, 2021), they appeared at the Cumilla Notary Office and officially left Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) via affidavit and accepted Islam. Their former names were Badal Chandra Shil, his wife Shipra Rani Shil, and their son Arko Chandra Shil. Their current names are Md. Al Amin, Jannatul Ferdous, and Mehedi Hasan. After accepting Islam, Md. Al Amin said, ‘Islam is a religion of peace and offers a welfare-based lifestyle for people. From such a realisation, during the holy month of Ramadan, we left Hinduism and embraced Islam.’ Because three members of the same family voluntarily converted during Ramadan, they were warmly welcomed by devout Muslims.”
Later, using this source information, a relevant keyword search found the same information reported in a local newspaper, Comillar Kagoj, titled “Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Burichang.”
Additionally, the same facts were reported by national media outlets: UNB, Bangladesh Pratidin, News24
Therefore, the incident of Badal Chandra Shil and two other members of his family converting to Islam in Cumilla is an old one. At that time, they voluntarily converted to Islam. There was no threat or coercion involved in their decision to leave Hinduism and accept Islam.
Conclusion
So, the recent claims suggesting that in Cumilla, Badal Chandra Shil converted to Islam along with his family under pressure to protect his wife’s honor, are misleading repurposings of the 2021 voluntary conversion incident.
Sources
- Daily Cumilla News: Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Cumilla’s Burichang
- Comillar Kagoj: Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Burichang
- UNB: Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Cumilla
- Bangladesh Pratidin: Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Cumilla
- News24: Three Members of the Same Family Convert to Islam in Cumilla
