A video from September last year showing police forcibly removing students protesting against the implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, is being shared with a false claim that it shows a police crackdown on hijab-wearing students in West Bengal.
The video is being shared amid a raging controversy in parts of Karnataka over the prohibition of wearing a hijab in classrooms, and several protests in support of and against the hijab in different parts of the country.
According to a news report published by the Hindustan Times on February 12, 2022, violence erupted in Suti, Murshidabad district in West Bengal after allegedly school headmaster asked students to wear uniform instead of the hijab. Next day, locals locked up teachers inside the schools. Police arrested 18 villagers linked to the incident while the headmaster was suspended. Police had to lathi charge and fire tear-gas shells to disperse the mob to bring the situation under control.
However, the video going viral is not from Murshidabad. The 21 seconds long viral video shows police personnel drag boys and hijab clad masked female students who can be seen sitting in the street.
The video is being tweeted with a Hindi caption. The claim can be translated as follows: "This video is from Murshidabad of Bengal governed by Mamata Banerjee and Mahua Moitra. First, the girls were barred to go college without Hijab and Burqa. When Girls protested against this norms they are brutally treated by police. There are wide differences between the speeches are given by Moitra in Parliament and the actions in reality."
(Original Texts in Hindi: यह @MahuaMoitra और @MamataOfficial बंगाल के मुर्शिदाबाद जिले का वीडियो है। पहले लड़कियों को हिज़ाब और बुर्के में कॉलेज जाने से रोका गया। जब लड़कियों ने इसका विरोध किया तब पुलिस बर्बरतापूर्ण तरीकें से पेश आयी। @MahuaMoitra जी के संसद में दिए भाषण और एक्शन में बहुत फ़र्क़ है
The tweet is archived here.
The video has been shared on Facebook with same claim. Click here and here to see the posts.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on Google with the key frames from the viral video and found same photos were published on September 15, 2021 on an online portal named Sahil Online. It was headlined as, "Bengaluru: Police resort to mild lathi-charge on students protesting against NEP"
The same video credited as user generated content was published by Sahil Online on same day to their YouTube channel. The video was titled as, "Bengaluru: Police resort to lathi-charge on students protesting against National Education Policy". After the 2 minute mark, we can see the same visuals as those in the viral video.
According to Deccan Herald's report published on September 15, 2021 around 400 students and activists took part in the protest against the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP). Several protesters suffered injuries and had to be hospitalised after the cops lathi-charged while they broke prohibitory orders and try to enter Vidhana Soudha area.
TV9 Kannada on September 14, 2021 also published a report about police action towards student protestors.
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