Scripted video from Bangladesh showing old man marrying young girl shared with communal barbs

A video, around 72-second long, is viral on social media. It shows a bearded old man, who identifies himself as 76-year-old Mohammed Rozob Ali. In the video, he sits beside a young girl, and is being interviewed in Bengali. He states that he has got married to the 12-year-old girl since she does not have her parents or any relatives. His own sons and daughter, he adds, does not attend to his needs, and he claims that his previous wife passed away 4 or 5 years earlier.

Claims have gone viral on social media alongside the video with Islamophobic connotations. Users on X have insinuated that such practices are prevalent among Muslims, painting them as backward and regressive.

Verified X user Kashmiri Hindu (@BattaKashmiri) shared the viral video on X, claiming that the Bangladeshi man was getting married to an orphan child, highlighting the massive age difference between them. (Archive)

This is happening in Bangladesh

Mohammad is 76 years old.
The girl is an orphan 12 year old.

Mohammad wants to take care so he marries her.

Any guesses where from a 76 year old man gets the idea to marry a child ? pic.twitter.com/e48ZuTEtej

— Kashmiri Hindu (@BattaKashmiri) November 21, 2024

Right-wing propaganda handle The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) quote-tweeted the video. The tweet has amassed around 92,000 views at the time of this article being written, besides being re-tweeted almost 2,000 times. (Archive)

76 Year Old Mohammad marries a 12 year old girl in Bangladesh.

Please don’t relate this to any other incidents. pic.twitter.com/7gtMuspgz7

— The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) November 22, 2024

Another premium subscribed X user, @Shunyaa00, posted the video, claiming that the 76-year-old man was getting married for the fourth time. (Archive)

Bangladesh 🇧🇩 : Mohammed, 76, married a 12-year-old girl as his 4th wife.
Mohammed says, “Inshallah, she is very young, has no one; she’s an orphan, so I made her my wife.”

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/kLvyoqrb2G

— Shunya (@Shunyaa00) November 21, 2024

The viral video was also shared by other users on X. (Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4)

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Fact Check

Alt News ran a reverse image search on one of the key frames from the viral video, and we were led to this Facebook page, described in its bio as a ‘digital creator’, from Bangladesh.

We managed to find the full video from which the viral video has been extracted, roughly from around the 0:21-minute mark. Uploaded on October 18, the video has racked up nearly 10,000 reactions, and has also been shared extensively.

On inspecting the other videos on the same page, we noticed a pattern that tried to sentimentalise taboo subjects, like child marriage, adultery, and other domestic issues. There are other videos, for instance, having to do with the subject of a 15-year-old boy marrying a 30-year-old woman, two siblings getting married to the same woman, a 95-year-old getting married to a 21-year-old woman, and so on.

Using a relevant keyword search, we were also able to locate the YouTube channel of this creator. Similar to the Facebook profile, this channel deals in videos that concern subjects ranging from taboo sexual relations, to prostitution. Moreover, the ‘About’ section mentions phrases like ‘Bangla prank’, ‘entertainment video’, ‘Bangla Drama’, ‘Short Film’ and the like, indicating that they dealt in scripted content, and made short videos for social media engagement.

Moreover, we went through several of these videos, and found several of the actors appearing in different videos, donning different characters.

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It is thus evident that the videos and the viral interviews are staged or scripted pieces.

To sum up, the viral claims on social media pertaining to a 76-year-old man marrying a 12-year-old girl, are misleading. The clip has been taken from a channel that largely deals in scripted videos.