A photo showing a woman’s body wrapped in polythene with her hands tied is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). The post is being shared with claims that she was a Hindu woman who was murdered and later found by police in the Talukder Market area of Barisal, Bangladesh. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: A Hindu woman was murdered and her body, wrapped in polythene with tied hands, was found in Barisal’s Talukder Market, Bangladesh.
Fact: The woman in the photo is a 23-year-old pregnant Muslim named Maria Akhtar (aka Maria Begum), who was rescued alive by police on 29 June 2025 from the Barisal-Bhola highway after being attacked with acid. She was reportedly kidnapped and tortured by relatives of her husband’s ex-wife. Official statements and multiple Bangladeshi media reports confirm she is not Hindu and was not murdered. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A Google Lens search of the viral photos led us to multiple Bangladeshi media reports (here, here, and here) that featured the same photo. As per these reports, on 29 June 2025, police in Bangladesh rescued a woman from the Barisal-Bhola highway. She had been attacked with acid and was found with her hands and feet tied. Barisal Port Police Station officer Delwar Hossain stated that she was admitted to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital. The woman was identified as 23-year-old Maria Begum, who is three months pregnant. Reports state that relatives of her husband’s ex-wife allegedly tortured her in an attempt to force an abortion.
Speaking to the media from the hospital, Maria said she had married a businessman from Bhola, Mashiur Rahman, a year ago. On the day of the incident, she was kidnapped by her husband’s ex-wife’s brothers, taken to a forest, tortured, tied up, wrapped in polythene, and left abandoned.
We also found a Facebook post (archived) dated 30 June 2025 by the Press Wing of the Chief Adviser to the Bangladesh government. Debunking the viral claim, the post clarified that the woman is a 23-year-old pregnant Muslim named Maria Akhtar, not a Hindu, and called the viral claim fake.
We also found an X post (archived) by Bangladeshi fact-checker Shohanur Rahman dated 27 June 2025, who shared the viral photo and clarified that the claim is fake.
To sum up, a photo of a woman who was rescued after an acid attack in Bangladesh is shared with a false communal narrative.
