Introduction:
On 23rd May, 2020, a 7-year-old child was raped and killed in Tongi. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) brought the rapist to the place of rape and crossfired. However, on 17th March 2022 a Facebook user posted a oicture of Rapid Action Battalion officers and captioned it as “ 7 year old child raped and killed in Tongi, RAB fires the rapist in the place of rape, congratulations to the RAB.”. Several other Facebook posts were made which can be found here[1] and here[2].
(Screenshot from the post)
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=136766482209900&id=108162555070293
https://www.facebook.com/groups/727747308122398/permalink/1003128343917625/
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3219900454959575&id=1599068403709463
Several mainstream media outlets reported on the issue in May 2020.
https://www.daily-sun.com/post/483424/‘Serial-rapist’-killed-in-Gazipur-‘gunfight’
https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/serial-rapist-killed-gunfight-rab-gazipur-1905205
Fact Check
A reverse image search revealed that several mainstream media outlets reported on the issue in May 2020; a report[3] from Jamuna TV.
Reverse image lookup also found it posted by a twitter user on 5th Oct,2020. Sufian was an accused in several rape cases[4], including one filed with East Tongi Police Station for killing and raping a seven-year-old, Rab personnel said.
(Screenshot from the post)
Rating:
Disinformation/Hoax
Conclusion:
Our research team has found that the rape and killing incident of 7 years old girl originally took place on 15th May, 2020 . This old news was circulated on social media by multiple users from Bangladesh and on mainstream news outlets in March 2022. Old news was circulated with misleading caption to make it look like a new incident to mislead people and create chaos.
[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/727747308122398/permalink/1003128343917625/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3219900454959575&id=1599068403709463
[3] https://www.jamuna.tv/news/147235?fbclid=IwAR2Y2hYPDcMGIEuEA0CFToNLX5nz5uGh5WYoaz3MQ2iVmXzAGgDdGur8hg0
[4] https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/serial-rapist-killed-gunfight-rab-gazipur-1905205