Indian content creator's video falsely shared as assault on Bangladesh political party member
- Published on December 18, 2025 at 02:44
- 2 min read
- By Rasheek MUJIB, AFP Bangladesh
Bangladesh's first elections since an uprising that ousted ex-leader Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League are expected in February 2026, prompting a wave of misinformation online, including posts claiming a video showed a member of the former ruling party's student wing "raped and abandoned". However, the clip was originally uploaded by an Indian comedy YouTuber and shows a woman pretending to be drunk.
The 18-second video of a woman convulsing on the roadside with a water bottle and a pair of sandals beside her was shared on Facebook on December 5, 2025, where it has been viewed 173,000 times.
"Three youths raped and abandoned a Chhatra League leader in Dhaka's Banani neighbourhood," reads part of the Bengali-language caption. The Chhatra League is the student wing of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, which has been banned since an uprising ousted her government in August 2024 (archived link).
A Bengali-language voiceover can be heard saying miscreants tortured and left the woman on the side of the road.
The same video was shared elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram as Bangladesh's major political parties geared up for elections in February 2026, the country's first since it was thrown into political unrest.
Tensions are high in the South Asian country of 170 million in the lead-up to the polls. A series of crude bombs were set off across the capital Dhaka in November, while Sharif Osman Hadi -- a student leader in the 2024 uprising who is also a candidate in the election -- was shot in an assassination attempt (archived here and here).
AFP has debunked false claims related to political violence in Bangladesh, while local media reported on a surge in disinformation campaigns surrounding the upcoming polls (archived link).
However, the circulating video is unrelated to Bangladesh's political turmoil.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a higher resolution version uploaded by a comedy YouTube channel called "Napati hajowary" on December 3, 2025 (archived link).
The channel features a banner that reads "unique comedian", while the woman seen in the circulating video also appears in all of its posts (archived link).
The original video features a voiceover by a man speaking in Bodo, one of the official languages of the northeastern Indian state of Assam, confirmed by a native speaker.
He can be heard asking if the woman is drunk and repeatedly asking why she drank so much.
The same video was crossposted to the YouTuber's Facebook page, while her Instagram bio also states she is a "unique comedy creator" (archived here and here).
AFP reached out to the content creator and the Dhaka police for comment, but has not received a reply.
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