Recently, a video has been circulating on Instagram and YouTube, depicting a woman holding a child near a fire allegedly lit by police.
The video claims to show a Hindu child being abused by police.Watch the video circulated with this claim on Instagram here (Archived version).
Watch the video circulated with this claim on YouTube here (Archived version) and here (Archived version).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team investigated and confirmed that the video does not depict police abusing a Hindu child. Instead, it shows police and bystanders attempting to revive a child who had fainted from the effects of tear gas fired during a clash between students of Dhaka College and City College.
Reverse image searches of several keyframes from the video traced it to a Facebook account owned by Ashraful Amin. On November 20 of this year, a video was shared on this account (link), which matches the content of the video being circulated with the claim.
In the post accompanying the video, it is mentioned:
“Police fired tear gas to disperse students of Dhaka College and City College. The tear gas was overwhelming, affecting even adults. The child’s condition worsened due to the smoke.”
Further investigation identified the police officer in the video as Shefat Chowdhury. Rumor Scanner tracked down Shefat Chowdhury’s Facebook account (link). On November 22, a detailed post about the incident, along with four images from the day, was found on his Facebook account. (link).
According to his post, the incident occurred on November 20 of this year. Police and army personnel were trying to control clashes between Dhaka College and City College students. Severe traffic congestion had developed on the busy four-lane road near Science Lab. Stones and bricks were thrown like rain, injuring civilians, police officers, and army personnel. To control the situation, tear gas was fired. Although civilians evacuated the area due to the tear gas, students from both colleges remained.
The child shown in the video was unconscious due to the gas while crossing the road with their mother. The mother and child struggled to breathe due to the tear gas and were crying. Seeing this, Shefat Chowdhury shouted for the woman to approach, took the unconscious child in his arms, and brought the child near the fire.
As the child began to regain consciousness, people gathered around, and someone lit a shirt to create a fire to help clear the gas. The child was eventually revived after ten minutes and returned to their mother.
Based on the officer’s statement, the woman initially seen in the video is the child’s mother. Her attire, including a hijab, suggested that she and the child were Muslim, not Hindu.
Using Google Maps (link), it was confirmed that the location matches New Elephant Road.
Keyword searches revealed (link) that on November 19, a scuffle broke out between Dhaka College and City College students over boarding a bus. This escalated when, on the morning of November 20, Dhaka College students vandalized City College. The incident sparked another clash that afternoon at Science Lab Road.
Conclusion
The claim that the video depicts police abusing a Hindu child is false.
Sources
- Ashraful Amin – Facebook Post
- Shefat Chowdhury – Facebook Post
- Google Maps – New Elephant Rd
- Prothom Alo – Science Lab Clash between Dhaka College and City College Students
- Rumor Scanner’s analysis
