A 2019 video from West Bengal of a group of people threatening and attacking a policeman is viral with a misleading claim linking it to the recent violence in the state.
BOOM found that the incident in the viral video is from June 2019, when locals in Nadia district clashed and attacked the police, while protesting the death of a teenager, hit by a truck.
West Bengal continues to remain volatile with multiple violent protests over the recently passed Waqf Act. The worst affected remains Murshidabad, where communal violence led to three deaths, many more injured and over 200 arrested. The situation has brought heavy criticism for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, Trinamool Congress (TMC). Banerjee in turn has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Centre of peddling misinformation to stoke anger.
In the viral video, a policeman can be seen being threatened and attacked by a group of people surrounding him, even as he scrambles behind the bushes.
The video is being shared on X with a communal spin claiming Muslims are attacking policemen "BENGAL IS LOST. Leave Hindus , not even Khaki is safe in Bengal. Look how a policeman is nearly lunched by Lungi Forces on Krishnanagar-Nabadwip Road, Bhaluka Battala, Nadia district."
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the incident in the viral video is from June 2019, when locals in Nadia district had attacked the police during a protest after the death of a 19-year-old bicyclist Jhantu Mandal.
Mandal was killed after getting hit by a lorry in Nabadwip, West Bengal. The post falsely claims that the video is from a recent incident in Nadia district and adds a fake communal angle claiming that it shows Muslims attacking the West Bengal Police.
Taking a hint from the video and the location mentioned we ran a keyword search and found a news report by Bangla news channel ABP Ananda, which had reported on the incident in June 2019.
The report had stated that tension erupted between police and locals in Nadia’s Nabadwip area after 19-year-old Jhantu Mandal was killed after getting hit by a sand-laden lorry while cycling to the market.
A scuffle broke out when police arrived to recover the body, during which police officers were chased with sticks, and a policeman fell into the bushes while fleeing, this moment is visible in the viral video,
Several police personnel were injured in the incident, while the lorry was seized, the accused driver fled the scene.
The sequence in the below news report match with the visuals in the viral video.
Additionally, we found an X post by the official handle of the West Bengal Police Cyber Crime Wing, ‘Fact Check – The Truth’, which dismissed the viral claim, clarifying that the video is from 2019 and is from an incident following a road accident in Nabadwip.
