Video of police reenactment of a crime in western India has been falsely shared in Bangladesh with claims that it shows several Hindu men being taken for execution after raping a Muslim woman. The men in the clip were charged with attacking a family on holiday in Maharashtra state, and remain under custody, a police official told AFP on August 7, 2026.
"A court in India has sentenced four Hindu men to death by hanging for raping a young Muslim woman," reads part of a Bengali-language caption of a Facebook post shared on July 31, 2026.
The post also goes on to claim that Bangladeshis who criticise India over its treatment of Muslims have now been "shown the finger" by India itself, while alleging that rapists in Bangladesh walk free on bail for years.
A video shared alongside the post shows several individuals with black hoods over their heads and hands handcuffed, being escorted by Indian police officers in a hilly area before being taken to several other locations.
People in the video could be heard speaking in Marathi, a language primarily spoken in Maharashtra.
Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have been strained, and anti-India sentiment has become common ground in local politics since the August 2024 uprising that toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, an ally of New Delhi ( archived link).
Bangladesh also blames India for what it perceives as Delhi's intervention in the country's democratic process, and for harbouring Hasina since her ouster ( archived link).
Hasina has been in hiding in India ever since she fled the revolution, and Bangladesh has repeatedly requested her extradition.
Relations have further deteriorated along their border, with India sending those it accuses of being illegal migrants across the frontier into Bangladesh.
The video was shared elsewhere in Facebook posts with similar claims, but it does not show the hanging of men convicted of rape.
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared video found the same footage shared on the official X account of Indian news agency ANI on July 15, 2026 ( archived link).
The post was captioned: "Nashik, Maharashtra: Police conduct a crime scene recreation in the Bhavali Dam attack case as part of the ongoing investigation to gather further evidence."
It added that a family visiting the area was chased and attacked by a group of men on July 12.
A crime scene reconstruction is fairly common practice in India and the Supreme Court has ruled that it "doesn't violate right against self-incrimination" ( archived link).
A keywords search found a report by local media outlet Times of India titled "Nashik highway horror: 9 accused taken to Bhavali dam site to recreate crime scene" published on July 15 ( archived link).
According to the report, police brought nine suspects accused of chasing a family who had objected to the sexual harassment of a woman back to the crime scene to gather additional evidence.
Nashik rural superintendent of police Dr. D. S. Swami told AFP on August 4 that the suspects seen in the video were being taken to the site to recreate the sequence of events as part of the investigation.
"A family visiting Bhavali Dam in Igatpuri, Maharashtra, was allegedly mistreated by a group of local residents. Following the family's complaint, police arrested all nine accused. Neither the accused nor the victims belong to the Muslim community," he said.
"The accused are still in jail as the trial is ongoing," Swami added.
AFP has previously debunked other misleading claims related to communal issues between India-Bangladesh.