Two videos taken during the quota reform movement in Bangladesh have been circulating on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with a false communal twist. The first video is captioned with a claim that a Hindu woman is crying because she has been told to either convert or leave the country. However, upon verification, it was revealed that the woman in the video is not Hindu but actually Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhan.
Another video claims that Hindu women in Bangladesh are carrying chili powder to protect themselves from Muslims. This claim was also proven false; the women in the video were actually using water mixed with chili powder for their own safety during an anti-government protest.
In a video posted on 12 August from a verified personal account on X, actress Badhan is falsely linked to a statement. The caption reads, “Video from Bangladesh. Hindu Women crying as they are saying either convert or leave Bangladesh. Where will they go away from their own homes. World, can you hear & feel her pain?” However, in the video, the woman is actually heard saying, “Because this country is mine. We will also reform the country.” The video has garnered around 70,000 views so far.
To verify the video, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search online. This led to a video report on the YouTube channel Dainik Desh Bartaman, uploaded on 1 August, titled, “I have no passport from any other country: Actress Badhon II Azmeri Haque Badhon.”
On that day, various directors, actors, and artists had gathered at Farmgate in the capital to stand in solidarity with the students. The speech by actress Badhan in the video is an exact match with her words from that event. This shows that Badhan’s speech has been misrepresented and is now being spread as a statement from Hindu women.
In another video, several women are seen holding bottles filled with red-colored liquid, which they claim is water mixed with chili powder. According to Google’s automatic translation of the Hindi caption, it reads: “Now our sisters in Bangladesh are protecting themselves from the illegitimate children of Islamic Mughals by keeping chili powder.”
Dismislab verified that this claim is also false. The women in the video discussing water mixed with chili powder are actually students protesting for quota reforms. None of them did this to protect themselves from Muslims. A search on Facebook revealed a related reel that was uploaded on 16 July.
An online report from Daily Jugantor is also available on the incident. The feature image used in the report is an exact match to the video footage shared on X. According to the report published on 16 July, some students of Dhaka University (DU) participated in the quota movement with chili powder mixed with water in their hands for self-defense. This means the women in the video are holding chili spray, not to escape from Muslims, but to defend themselves during the movement.
Amid the ongoing quota reform movement, Sheikh Hasina reportedly left her position as Prime Minister and fled to India on 5 August. Since then, unrest has been reported in various parts of the country, including attacks on religious minorities. During this time, alongside real events, misinformation has been spreading widely on social media. Numerous posts on X contain false claims, sharing footage of unrelated or old incidents. Dismislab has previously published several detailed reports (1, 2, 3) addressing these issues.
*This article was originally published in dismislab.