PTI fact check: Video of DU professor being forced to resign during student protests shared on social media with false claim
The video was shared on social media with a false communal narrative, says PTI
A video was shared on social media recently with the claim that it showed a Hindu professor at a college in Dhaka being forced to recite verses from the Quran and then resign by members of the Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing.
However, the PTI Fact Check Desk found in its investigation that the man in the video was Professor Dr Abdul Bashir, dean of the Faculty of Arts at Dhaka University, who was forced to resign following the students' protest.
The video was shared on social media with a false communal narrative, says PTI.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The viral video emerged amid the reported spike in violence against the minority Hindu community in crisis-hit Bangladesh following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led government earlier this month.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on 19 August a video with the claim that it showed a Hindu professor at Dhaka College being forced to recite the Quran and then resign by members of the Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing.
Here is the post:
Investigation
Starting the investigation, the PTI ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found that several other users shared the same video.
Four such posts can be found.
On further scanning the search results, the PTI came across a YouTube video uploaded by the official channel of Dhaka Post on 19 August.
The description of the video read: "পদত্যাগ করলেন ঢাবির কলা অনুষদের ডিন আবদুল বাছির | DU | Dhaka Post"
An English translation of the description read: "DU Arts Faculty Dean Abdul Bachir resigns | DU | Dhaka Post"
Here is the video and below is a screenshot of the same:
The PTI Fact Check Desk noticed striking similarities between this video and the viral video. Below is combination image comparing visuals of the two:
The Desk also came across an X post by a Bangladeshi content creator named Nazmus Sajid Chowdhury, who shared photos from the same incident.
The caption of the post read: "During his tenure as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Dhaka University, he banned students from organising Quran recitation events at Historic Bottola Premises and issued show-cause notices to those involved. Today, students forced Abdul Basir to resign, and afterward, they bid him farewell by playing the very Quran recitation he once tried to suppress and offered prayers in his office. What a scene!"
Here is the post:
Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a report published by Dhaka Tribune on 19 August.
The title of the report read, "DU Faculty of Arts dean resigns amid student protests"
Here is the link to the report and below is a screenshot of the same:
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/355309/du-faculty-of-arts-dean-r...
According to the report, AB Jubayer, co-coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement, accused Prof Dr Abdul Bashir of being involved in attacks on Dhaka University students and of previously attempting to punish students who participated in a Quran recitation programme on campus during Ramadan. Jubayer criticised Prof Bashir as a supporter of autocracy and a provocateur, arguing that he was unfit to hold a significant position such as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
In response to the protest, students escorted Prof Bashir from his room on the third floor of the Arts Building to the Dean's office around 12pm, where he drafted his resignation letter on the official letterhead of the Faculty of Arts. Following his resignation, a recitation from the Quran was held, and a prayer was offered for peace and discipline at Dhaka University and across the country.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the video is of a professor at Dhaka University being forced to recite verses of the Quran and resign. The video was shared with a false communal narrative.
CLAIM
A Hindu professor at Dhaka University was forced to recite verses from the Quran and then resign by members of Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing.
FACT
The man in the viral video is Professor Dr Abdul Bashir, dean of the Faculty of Arts at Dhaka University, who was forced to resign following the recent students' protest.
