Chhatra League leader’s photo falsely viral in India as ‘Hindu girl raped and murdered’ in Bangladesh

The image of a woman is viral on social media with the claim that she is a Hindu named Atika, who had been an active participant in the student movement in Bangladesh, and was raped and killed by fellow protesters.

Reports on targeted attacks on minorities have streamed in from the neighbouring country ever since the fall of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina. Several social media users have called the incident an instance of the growing intolerence towards Bangladeshi Hindus from what they term as ‘Jihadi’ extremists.

Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand (@INarsinghvani) tweeted the claim from his verified X account. The caption, when translated into English, reads: “The name of this foolish girl was Atika. She took part in the student movement in Bangladesh. She even became a student leader as the movement turned into an anti-national movement in Bangladesh. Gradually it became an anti-Hindu movement. She did not stop here and started killing Hindus. Then what happened? For the Jihadis of Islam every Hindu is a Kafir. This Atika was raped and killed by Jihadis.” The post has circulated widely on social media, and at the time of this article being written, has more than 25,000 views, and has been re-shared around 650 times. (Archive)

हिंदुओं

इस नासमझ लड़की का नाम अतिका था

बांग्लादेश के छात्र आंदोलन में इसने बढ़ चढ़कर हिस्सा लिया
यहां तक की यह छात्र लीडर भी बनी बांग्लादेश के अंदर जैसे-जैसे वह आंदोलन एक देश विरोधी आंदोलन बन गया
धीरे-धीरे हिंदू विरोधी आंदोलन बन गया

यही नहीं रुके वह हिंदुओं की हत्या करने लगे… pic.twitter.com/tWWqawCfUU

— Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati (@INarsinghvani) November 13, 2024

Verified X user (@rajasolank71070) also tweeted the claim. In his tweet, he alleged that the woman had been at the forefront of the student movement in Bangladesh, but was eventually gangraped and killed by her fellow ‘Jihadis.’ (Archive)

बांग्लादेश की रहने वाली इस युवती का नाम अतिका है एक समय ये बंग्लादेश के छात्र आंदोलन बढ़चढ़कर हिस्सा लेती थी लेकिन सरकार बदलते ही इसके साथी जेहादियों ने इसका सामूहिक बलात्कार करके इसको मार डाला
भाईचारा??? pic.twitter.com/jXtfkdK1vc

— बकरी वाले मौलाना (बकरी न्यूज़) (@rajasolank71070) November 14, 2024

The claim was also shared by the official Instagram handle of the news outlet Dainik Pratap.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Dainik Pratap (@dainik.pratap)

Several other users on X have also circulated this claim. (Archives – 1, 2, 3)

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Fact Check

We ran a relevant keyword search on Google, which led us to this report by the Bangladeshi news portal BD News 24.

This report, from July 24, 2024, identifies the woman from the viral posts as Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader Atika Binte Hossain. It also mentions that she was the president of the BCL’s Ruqayyah Hall unit. When the anti-quota protests turned violent in Bangladesh, she was heckled and driven out of her dormitory by other students.

Eventually, Atika, and eight of her fellow members from the BCL, were rescued by the university’s proctorial team, the report added.

Another news report, by Bangladeshi news outlet Barta 24, describes in detail how student protesters drove out Atika, along with eight other BCL members, from Ruqayyah Hall in Dhaka University, on July 16, 2024.

Thereafter, we also ran a relevant search on Facebook, which led us to the profile of the student leader identified as Atika Hossain. We noticed that one of the the photos used in the viral claims matches that used in this profile. The bio of the Facebook profile also confirms that she is the president of the Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Begum Ruqayyah Hall unit of the Dhaka University.

Moreover, she has posted from this account as recently as November 16, which means that any claim purporting her to have been killed is a blatant fabrication.

We were also able to trace down her personal Facebook profile, where she continues to speak out on behalf of the Chhatra League.

Hence, it can be concluded that the claim that a Hindu girl by the name of Atika had been raped and murdered by ‘Jihadis’ in Bangladesh is fabricated. In reality, the woman in the viral image is Atika Binte Hossain. She was a leader of the Chhatra League. Alt News found reports which establish that she had been heckled and driven out of the university dormitory by other students, in consequence to the anti-quota protests in Bangladesh turning violent.