Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being shared on social media platforms, purporting to depict violence against Hindus in West Bengal. During the investigation we found that the viral video is not from West Bengal but from Bangladesh, but the viral claim is misleading.
Claim:
X user Tulshiram G. Potdukhe shared the viral video on his profile.
Check the archive version of the claim here.
Other users too are sharing the video claiming it to be from West Bengal.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by uploading the video in the InVid tool and running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
Through one keyframe we found a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of Jago News.
The video was the same as that of the viral video.
The description mentioned a link to the news report.
The text in the link said (translation): A family was attacked by park officials and employees while taking a family walk in Green Aranya Park in Bhaluka, Mymensingh. The video of this incident has spread on social media Facebook. The incident took place at the Green Forest Recreation Center (Park) of Habirbari Union of Upazila on Sunday (February 4) afternoon.
The news further mentioned: Shahjahan Mia Badi, the victim of this incident, filed a complaint at Bhaluka Model Police Station that night. The complaint was registered as a case on Tuesday (February 6). After the case, the police arrested three employees of Green Aranya Park involved in the attack from the Habirbari area on Wednesday (February 7) morning.
This clarified that the incident took place in Bangladesh.
We also connected with a fact checker from Bangladesh, Tanvir Mahatab Abir, who confirmed that the incident did take place in Bangladesh.
He also shared a link to a news report about the same carried by the Facebook page of a leading news channel.
The title mentioned: Attacked while walking with family in Green Forest Park
According to a news report, ‘Shahjahan Mia and his family members were attacked while visiting a recreation center named Green Aranya Park located in Habirbari of Bhaluka Upazila of Mymensingh. The incident happened last Sunday afternoon in front of the park gate.’ The report was published on 7 February, 2024.
Three people have been arrested in this incident.
Conclusion: Viral video claiming to depict violence against Hindus in West Bengal is actually from Bangladesh when a family was attacked while visiting a recreation center early this year. Viral claim is misleading.
