Hyderabad: A video showing a man being assaulted by a mob is circulating on social media, with claims that a Hindu man named Haradhan Roy was assaulted by Muslim radicals for protesting the abduction of his daughter.
One X user shared the video with the caption, “A Muslim boy, Abdul Hakim, abducted a Hindu girl, Anjana Roy, in Naogaon, Bangladesh. When her father, Haradhan Roy, protested, he was beaten and injured by radical Muslims. No one has come forward to help rescue the Hindu girl so far. (sic)” (Archive)
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the man seen beaten in the video is Awami League leader, Nirmalendu Das Rana, who was assaulted for political reasons.
A reverse image search of the keyframes led us to an extended version of the video, posted by a Facebook account on May 14.
According to the post, the video shows Nirmalendu Das Rana, a prominent Nabiganj politician and Awami League leader, being attacked in Sylhet in Bangladesh on May 13 by a mob reportedly linked to a student political group. Rana was beaten and later handed over to the police. He was allegedly accused of attacking anti-discrimination student activists and had previously been charged with assaulting Jamaat-Shibir members in 2014.
Taking this cue, we conducted a keyword search and found reports published on May 14 by Bangladeshi media outlets Rupali Bangladesh and Anusandhan 24.
According to these reports, Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md. Ziaul Haque confirmed that students and members of the public brought Nirmalendu Das Rana to the police station following a mob attack. Rana is accused in a case related to the attacks on students who took part in the July-August 2024 movement, referring to the student-led uprising that toppled the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.
We also found the incident reported by another Bangladesh media outlet, Desh TV News, on May 14, stating Awami League leader Rana was beaten by a mob and handed over to police.
Also, we could not find any credible reports or evidence confirming the specific incident involving Abdul Hakim abducting a Hindu girl named Anjana Roy in Naogaon, Bangladesh, and her father Haradhan Roy being assaulted by radical Muslims.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim of a Hindu man being assaulted for protesting the abduction of her daughter in Bangladesh is false.