BanglaFact, the media and fact-checking wing of the Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB), has said that a report by Indian news outlet India Today about the recent Khagrachari incident was based on false claims.
India Today published a report on September 29, alleging that the Bangladesh Army opened fire on gatherings of Buddhists and Hindus who were protesting alleged rape and temple attacks in Khagrachari. The outlet described the incident as an atrocity against Hindu-Buddhists.
However, BanglaFact investigators confirmed that no evidence was found of any attack on Hindu or Buddhist temples, nor of any protest gatherings linked to such claims. The fact-checkers said the report’s claim that the army shot at protesting Hindus was completely baseless.
BanglaFact also noted that this is not the first time India Today’s reporting on Bangladesh has faced questions. The team pointed out that earlier, the outlet had misrepresented the killing of a Muslim businessman, Sohagh, murdered in front of Dhaka’s Mitford Hospital on July 9, by reporting him as Hindu.
