THE unforeseen collapse of the Awami League government on August 5 sparked new forms of political violence across the country and created fertile ground for religious tensions. Attacks took place on homes and establishments belonging to people of different religions, raising concerns over rising communal violence.
Consequently, misinformation and disinformation were spread widely across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and WhatsApp. These platforms amplified the scope of these claims, with media houses in India often framing the incidents in ways that stoked religious sentiments. This manipulation of narratives was not limited to media alone but became part of a larger geopolitical strategy to portray the political crisis in Bangladesh as a religious conflict.
Against this backdrop, discussing gendered misinformation is significant because it exposes an alarming rise of false claims of violence and attacks on Hindu women during political unrest, demonstrating how such narratives are deployed to create fear and justify violence, particularly against minority women. The question remains: how do women become prime targets of producing disinformation disguised as victims of attacks during times of conflict and unrest? Which types of claims have been used to depict women as victims of violence?
However, Fact-Watch, an independent fact-checking organisation, reviewed false claims about violence against minority women and how they were exploited as symbolic victims in these narratives to incite further division and unrest. This review involved analysing over 25 fact-check reports from various institutions and print media in Bangladesh and India, spanning July 1 to August 31, 2024, with a focus on identifying patterns of misinformation related to communal violence and violence against women.
Most notably, in 80 per cent of the reports, inaccurate allegations and misinformation about violence against women were found. This review analysed information, videos, images, and claims related to the portrayal of Hindu women as targets of communal attacks and investigated the prevalence of rumours about incidents involving women.
The fact-checked reports highlighted several recurring patterns of violence against women and the spread of misinformation. Old videos and images from past incidents have been repurposed to create false claims of violence against women, with political violence often portrayed as religious or ethnic attacks. Likewise, false claims of celebrity assaults and attacks on homes have been spread to incite communal tensions, while harassment of female teachers has been misrepresented as evidence of religious persecution.
On the other hand, 55 per cent of the disinformation content portrayed Hindu women as victims of violence, including murder, rape, and abduction. In comparison, 45 per cent depicted Muslim women as victims under the guise of being Hindu. Equally, images of violence during the July uprising were misleadingly framed as attacks on Hindu women in 40 per cent of the content. However, 30 per cent used old, unrelated videos to falsely claim communal violence, with no actual evidence of attacks on minority women.
Less obvious is the fact that only 15 per cent of the content actually involved incidents with Hindu women, and these events were unrelated to gender-based violence or communalism. Compared to other cases, political violence was also manipulated, with 25 per cent of the reports falsely claiming that female members of the Awami League鈥檚 student wing were attacked as Hindu women.
Furthermore, 20 per cent of the content falsely claimed that Hindu female teachers were forced to resign under pressure. Despite this, videos of Muslim teachers being harassed were misrepresented as Hindu incidents, fuelling further disinformation after the protests in August.
The use of false videos and images has been circulated to create the perception that the Hindu community is under constant threat. As an example, false claims regarding the rape of a Dalit Hindu woman and the misuse of old videos depicting sexual assault are sensitive examples of how disinformation is weaponised. Incidents involving Hindu women, such as false reports of forced resignations of teachers and abductions, are exaggerated or fabricated to stir communal tensions.
Similarly, prominent figures have been falsely implicated, portraying Hindu women as the main victims of communal violence. These narratives have diverted attention from the actual political events, such as attacks on female leaders during anti-government protests, which were promoted as communal violence against Hindu women.
Meanwhile, female students actively participated in the July uprising, and their political involvement made them key targets of disinformation. Amid the movement, numerous female leaders associated with the Awami League were subjected to personal attacks. Those incidents were also exploited to disseminate disinformation portraying the victimhood of Hindu women on social media.
It鈥檚 intimidating that despite being debunked multiple times, false claims of mass rapes, forced conversions, or murders of Hindu women continue to resurface during every significant political or communal crisis. In this process, women are depicted as symbols of religious ideology, and their suffering is showcased to portray the community as oppressed. Thus, this form of gendered misinformation portraying violence against women as a religious tool has emerged as a significant social and political issue.
The exploitation of violence against Hindu women in Bangladesh for political purposes demonstrates how religious and gender misinformation can be strategically employed to manipulate public sentiment. This strategy is not new, but it has become a powerful tool in religious politics. It exploits violence against women to deepen communal divides and justify political agendas.
It has been brought to our attention that there is misinformation based on gender being used to create divisions within communities. This presents challenges for women and minority groups. However, the intersectionality of gender and religion makes this form of misinformation especially harmful, as it creates more divisive and potent narratives that are difficult to counter.
The complexity of these dual barriers 鈥� being both a woman and a member of a religious minority 鈥� highlights the intersectional nature of this exploitation. Above all, the systematic spread of misinformation around violence against Hindu women is a deliberate political strategy to inflame communal tensions, with devastating consequences for social cohesion.
This wave of gender-based misinformation is concerning as it exploits the vulnerabilities of religious minorities and perpetuates the marginalisation of Hindu women in our society. We must address and counteract this issue to promote equality and inclusivity.听听As long as these narratives are allowed to thrive unchecked, women and minority communities will remain prime targets in times of political and social unrest.
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Zulker Naeen is a research coordinator at both FactWatch and the Centre for Critical and Qualitative Studies at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. For this write-up, the author has used data from his own research report titled 鈥榁iolence Against Women and Misinformation: A Fact-Check Analysis of Recent Communal Attacks in Bangladesh鈥�.