A photo of an injured man, bound to a tree is going viral on social media, with the claim that it shows Jitendra Kanti Guha, a Hindu leader in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The claim states that Guha was attacked by a local Awami League leader Mohammed Jasim for refusing to participate in an ‘Iftar party’.
But we found that the claim is false. Speaking to The Quint, Taposh Guha, the victim’s brother said that Guha was at the party when Jasim showed up uninvited with a group of people, who assaulted Jitendra.
He added that the assault took place due to prior political enmity, and that both parties were members of the Awami League.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared with the following claim, “Bangladesh: Jitendra Kanti Guha, a Hindu and a local leader from Chittagong was attacked in a barbaric fashion by local Awami League leader Mohammed Jasim for refusing to be a part of 'Iftar Party'.”
The photograph was shared with the same claim by Supreme Court lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha on his verified Twitter account.
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint))
The claim was also shared on Telegram channel ‘MeghUpdates’, where it was viewed by around 12,600 people.
Archives of more posts with the same claim can be seen here, here, here, and here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We ran a keyword search on Google and came across a news report by UNI India, which mentioned that Jitendra Kanti Guha, Vice President of the South Chittagong Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, was tied to a tree and beaten up “over an invitation to an Iftar party”.
It elaborated that BM Jasim, identified as the Union Parishad Chairman, was not invited to the party, and showed up at the event with 30-40 people, when one of them attacked Guha and was later joined by others.
We contacted the article’s author Mir Afroz Zaman, who told us that Jasim, along with three others had been arrested in connection to the case so far.
Zaman also helped us get in touch with Taposh Guha, Jiten Kanti Guha’s brother, who filed a police complaint regarding the attack.
Speaking to The Quint, Taposh clarified that Jiten was in attendance at the Iftar party. He told us that Mohammed Jasim, who was previously expelled from the Awami League, came to the party uninvited and attacked Guha.
As per Taposh, both Jasim and Guha belong to the same ruling political party. He added that there have been previous political enmity between the two that started after council elections, which Jasim contested as a rival candidate.
Speaking to UNI India, Jasim claimed that Guha was thrashed because he had embezzled money from locals, falsely promising to build houses, wells and to give jobs during his stint as president of the party.
Evidently, Jitendra Kanti Guha was not attacked for refusing to attend an Iftar party in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Guha’s brother stated that a rival political leader, Mohammed Jasim arrived at the venue uninvited and attacked Guha due to prior personal enmity.
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