No, this video does not show Hindus being attacked in West Bengal, it’s from last year in Bangladesh
Warning: The video is violent in nature, viewer discretion is advised.
A violent video of a group of people attacking two men and beating them up brutally is being shared on Facebook and Twitter. The context with which it is shared is communal, claiming that Hindus were attacked by Muslims.
Claim 1: “प. बंगालकी सरकार मुस्लिम दुष्टताके विरूद्ध कारवाई करे। प. बंगाल में हूगलीके चंदननगरमें हजारों मुसलमानोंद्वारा हिंदुओंके घरोंको जलाया जा रहा है; हिन्दू महिलाएं सड़कोंपर आ गयी है..पुलिस प्रशासन मुसलमानोंके साथ है.मीडिया नहीं दिखा रही. हिंदूओंको स्वयंरक्षा के खड़ा होनाही होगा।”
(Translation: Government of West Bengal should take action against Muslim wickedness. Thousands of Muslims are burning houses of Hindus in Chandannagar, Hooghly in West Bengal; Hindu women have come on the streets .. Police is with Muslims. Media is not showing this. Hindus will have to stand up for their defence.)
Claim 2: “फिर कहता हूँ #Palghar संयोग नही प्रयोग था, साधुओं के बाद अब आम जनता की लीनचिंग शुरू हो गयी है, ये वीडियो बंगाल का बताया जा रहा है, बताया गया है कि रोहिंग्या स्थानीय निवासियों जो कि हिन्दू हैं को पकड़ कर हाँथ पाँव तोड़ रहे हैं, कल आपकी बारी हो सकती है”
(Translation: I’m saying this again, #Palghar was not an accident, it was an experiment. After the sadhus, now the general public is being lynched. It is said that this video is from Bengal, where Rohingyas are breaking the limbs of the natives (who are Hindu), tomorrow it could be your turn.)
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Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Secretary-General Milind Parande posted this video in a tweet. It was viewed more than 50,000 times and retweeted by nearly 250 users.
https://twitter.com/MParandeVHP/status/1261599477208670208
(Archived)
User Nitin Shukla, who identifies as an investigative journalist, shared the video as well.
फिर कहता हूँ #Palghar संयोग नही प्रयोग था, साधुओं के बाद अब आम जनता की लीनचिंग शुरू हो गयी है, ये वीडियो बंगाल का बताया जा रहा है, बताया गया है कि रोहिंग्या स्थानीय निवासियों जो कि हिन्दू हैं को पकड़ कर हाँथ पाँव तोड़ रहे हैं, कल आपकी बारी हो सकती है pic.twitter.com/dyQxHmqMVU
— Nitin Shukla (@nshuklain) May 15, 2020
(Archived)
His Twitter handle ‘@nshuklain’ can be seen in the videos shared on Facebook posts above, with the claim copied verbatim.
Truth
Using frames from the video and with the help of reverse image search on Google and Yandex, we found a recent video posted on April 25, by user Abu Hossain, with the text ‘কি শুরু হলো বাংলাদেশে এইসব???’. (Translation: What started all this in Bangladesh?)
The comments under this video indicated that the video showed people being beaten up for stealing an auto in Bangladesh.
We used the keywords ‘auto thief Bangladesh’ (অটো চোর বাংলাদেশ) on social media platforms and YouTube and found multiple social media posts on Facebook, dating as far back as March 2019.
The oldest posts we found were posted by Bangladeshi user Saiful Mozumder on 25 March 2019 with the caption – “এই বর্বরতার শেষ কবে হবে? অটো চুরির অপরাধে চোরকে ধরে নির্মমভাবে মারপিট।”
(Translation: When will this barbarism end? The thief was caught in the crime of auto theft and brutally beaten.)
Another Facebook page ‘BD All Newspaper’ posted the video on the same day, captioned – “অটো চুরির অপরাধে চোরকে ধরে বেদম মার- এমন মারা কি ঠিক হয়েছে ?? আপনার মতামত কি বলে???”
(Translation: For stealing an auto, the thief was beaten brutally – Do you think beating like this is alright? What do you think?)
Thus, this video does not show recent communal violence, in West Bengal or Bangladesh as claimed.
This video is of people being brutally beaten for stealing an auto in Bangladesh, and it is from March 2019.
