As concerns grew at the rising crime levels in Dhaka, an old clip was mispresented as locals battling criminals in the Bangladeshi capital. While local police said the number of robberies doubled in the past year, it was actually filmed in the Bihar state in eastern India in July 2024.
“Started again in Gazipur. Fight between common people and robbers. Stand up Bangladesh. Everyone, please pray,” reads the Bengali-language Facebook post published on February 8, 2025.
It shares a video showing two groups of people fighting with sticks, which has racked up more than 22,000 views.
Screenshot of the false post taken on March 11, 2025
Bangladesh has struggled to control crime since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced from power in August 2024 by a mass uprising against her iron-fisted rule (archived link).
It has extended the power of commissioned army officials to enforce law and order amid the absence of police forces (archived link).
The clip was shared elsewhere on Facebook with similar claims.
But reverse image searches on a keyframe from the footage found it was uploaded to YouTube on July 18, 2024 — weeks before Hasina was ousted (archived link).
The clip — rotated 90 degrees — contains a caption saying it was filmed in Bastwara, a village in the eastern Bihar state of India, during the Islamic month of Muharram.
Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the clip uploaded on July 18, 2024
The YouTube user also uploaded a clip on the previous day showing the same scene from a different angle (archived link).
Images on Google Street View also confirm the video’s location (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (L) and Google Street View imagery of the area with similarities marked by AFP
AFP previously debunked another video falsely linked to crimes in Bangladesh.
