The Sandeshkhali area has been witnessing unrest for over 10 days as women protestors seek justice against alleged atrocities committed by local TMC leaders. Amidst this, a video of a woman being pushed to the ground and hit with a stick while speaking to a media person is circulating on social media with the claim that the video is from Sandeshkhali, and that the woman attempting to speak to the media about the Sandeshkhali atrocities, is being attacked on live camera. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: A woman trying to speak to the media about the atrocities in Sandeshkhali is being attacked on live camera.
Fact: The viral video depicts an attack on a BJP worker during a protest held by the BJP in West Bengal in 2018. According to media reports,the incident took place in Barasat, about 40 km from Kolkata, on 26 September 2018, the day BJP called for a 12-hour bandh to protest the death of two students in North Dinajpur district. During this protest, BJP worker Nilima De Sarkar was attacked twice on the same day – the first time by local panchayat chief Arsaduzzaman and the second time by Trinamool leader Qutubuddin. The viral video was shot when Qutubuddin assaulted Nilima De Sarkar. The viral video is not connected to Sandeshkhali incidents. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we performed a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This search led us to a video posted on 30 September 2018, on X(Twitter) by Keya Ghosh, Media Co-in-charge of Bengal BJP. The video featured the viral footage with the caption, “This is the same lady Nilima De Sarkar who was ‘kicked’ by TMC leader Arshadujjaman. Look how his accomplice Qutubuddin is thrashing her openly when she is relaying the incident to the media.”
Taking a cue from this, to know more information about this incident, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet, which led us to a news report by The Statesman on 01 October 2018, with the title “On camera: Woman BJP supporter kicked, beaten with sticks by ‘TMC leaders’ twice.” According to the report, the incident took place in Barasat, about 40 km from Kolkata, on 26 September 2018, the day the BJP called for a 12-hour bandh to protest the death of two students in North Dinajpur district. The report mentioned that BJP supporter Nilima De Sarkar was initially attacked by TMC workers led by local panchayat chief Arshaduzzaman. Later, she was thrown to the ground by a man identified as Qutubuddin, an aide of Arshaduzzaman, while giving an interview to the media.
NDTV also reported this incident on 01 October 2018, stating that the BJP worker Nilima De Sarkar was attacked twice on the same day -the first time by local panchayat chief Arshaduzzaman and the second time by Trinamool leader Qutubuddin. Several other news reports regarding this incident can be seen here, here & here. From these reports, it is evident that the viral video depicts an attack on a BJP worker during a protest in 2018.
To sum it up, an old video of an attack on a BJP worker is falsely shared as an assault on a woman in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal.
