Domestic violence case from Bangladesh given a ‘love Jihad’ spin in India

A few pictures of an unknown woman have been going viral on social media with claims that she is a victim of love jihad. In the first picture, she is seen standing next to a man. The second and third pictures show some bruises and injuries on the woman’s face and body. Users are claiming that these pictures are from Kerala. They assert that the woman is a Hindu and the person standing next to her is her husband who is from the Muslim community. On August 25, these pictures were posted on a Facebook group called ‘Sonu Thakur Yogi Adityanath Bhakt Team‘. The post received 2,200 likes and had been shared 547 times at the time of writing.

These photos were also shared on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

केरल में फिर एक लड़की #लव_जिहाद की शिकार
हर लड़की शुरू में कहती है मेरा अब्दुल दूसरे मुसलमानों जैसा नही है,बहुत नेक है लेकिन जब आंखें खुलती हैं तब लड़कियों के सामने तीन अंजाम होते हैं या तो सूटकेस में दफन मिलती है या कोठे पर बेच दी जाती है या बच्चा पैदा करने वाली मशीन बन जाती है pic.twitter.com/wbFg3goRpA

— Sandeep Rajliwal (@Srajliwalbjp) July 29, 2020

Fact-check

Upon a reverse image search of the first viral photo, we came across a news report by the Dhaka Tribune from June 26, 2020. This report said that the woman was a victim of domestic violence and identified her as Sumaiya Hassan from Dhaka, Bangladesh. On June 26, 2020, she had shared a few pictures on Facebook showing her injuries. In the post, she accused her husband and in-laws of beating her for dowry. Taking cognizance of Sumaiya’s post, the in-charge of Dhaka’s Shahbagh police station questioned Sumaiya’s husband Zahid Hassan. According to the police, Sumaiya and Zahid had gotten married a few years ago. They were facing marital problems and Sumaiya had filed a complaint against her in-laws earlier. However, the family later sorted the issue amongst themselves.

One of the other photos of her was included in a different article by the Dhaka Tribune on June 27, 2020. According to the report, she had posted six pictures on Facebook on June 26. Within a few hours, her post became viral. She claimed that her husband and brother-in-law were both drug addicts. Sumaiya also claimed that she was afraid of speaking out because her in-laws had threatened to kill her younger brother. The report mentioned that the police had arrested Zahid. Abdurrahim, Sumaiya’s father-in-law, denied allegations of the family’s involvement. He said that Zahid used to beat Sumaiya and other family members had nothing to do with the domestic abuse. The report does not suggest that Sumaiya was a Muslim convert.

The photos had been shared from Sumaiya’s personal Facebook account, which she later deleted with an explanation. She wrote that many people who were concerned about her did not know that the issue had been resolved. She then requested people not to further share the images. She said that the police had asked her to file a complaint in the matter. However, she told the police that she did not want to register a case. Sumaiya instead chose to reconcile with her husband keeping in mind their 8-month old baby’s future.

In one of Sumaiya’s posts on Facebook, she is in the same clothes spotted in the viral pictures.

Therefore, images of a domestic violence victim from Bangladesh were shared as India. It was falsely claimed that that the woman was a Hindu trapped in ‘love jihad’. Unrelated incidents are often shared with a fictional ‘love jihad’ spin on social media. You can read our fact-check reports on these incidents here.