Following the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, in the first week of April, Muslims have been protesting against the newly enacted law across the country, including in West Bengal (here, here, and here). According to news reports (here, here), on 11 April 2025, these protests turned violent in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, resulting in Violence and riots. Reports (here, here, and here) indicate that three people lost their lives in the violence: two Hindus, Chandan Das and Hargobind Das, were killed in a mob attack, while a Muslim man died in police firing. According to reports, hundreds of people (mostly Hindus) affected by the violence in Murshidabad district crossed the Bhagirathi River. They sought refuge in the adjoining Malda district (here, here, and here). On 12 April 2025, the Calcutta High Court ordered the deployment of central forces to restore peace and order in the district (here).
Amid the unrest, a video (here, here and here) has gone viral on social media showing a group of people running through a village street. It is being claimed that they are fleeing after an announcement from a mosque allegedly asked Hindus to leave the area. Let’s find the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video shows Hindus fleeing a village in fear after a mosque in West Bengal ordered them to evacuate the area with announcement from loudspeakers.
Fact: The video actually shows visuals from the Charak Puja festival held on 14/15 April 2025, in Mayurhat village, Hanskhali block, Nadia district, West Bengal. This was confirmed by Dipankar Das, the Panchayat president (Prodhan) of Mayurhat-1 Panchayat, who clarified that no such announcement was made by any mosque. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
To find the truth, we closely analysed the viral video. At the 00:25 timestamp, we noticed a man dressed in saffron running with burning incense. Behind him, several individuals appear dressed as demons — their bodies painted black and holding props resembling weapons, which they are waving. This suggests that the video is likely from a festival or traditional celebration rather than any communal incident.
To locate the area, we closely examined the viral video once again. In the footage, we spotted a shed with the text “ময়ূরহাটযাত্রীপ্রতীক্ষালয়,” which translates to “Mayurhat Passenger Waiting Hall.” This indicated that the location is in Mayurhat, West Bengal. We then geolocated the spot using Google Street View and were able to match it with the same area seen in the video.
A side-by-side comparison of the geolocated area from the video and the slightly outdated Google Street View confirms that the location is indeed Mayurhat. Despite the older imagery, we were able to match nearby buildings and towers, helping us confidently verify the area.
To verify the claim, we contacted Dipankar Das, the Panchayat President (Prodhan) of Mayurhat. He clarified that the viral video is related to the Charak Puja festival, which recently took place in their village on 14/15 April 2025. He confirmed that no mosque within Mayurhat had made any announcements asking Hindus to evacuate the area. He also mentioned that Charak Puja is an annual event in Mayurhat. Additionally, we found several YouTube (here, here, here) videos documenting the celebration of this festival in the village.
Additionally, we could not find any credible reports confirming that any mosque in Murshidabad announced that all Hindus should vacate the area during the recent unrest.
To sum up, this viral video of people running in West Bengal is not due to any announcement from a mosque, it is part of a festival celebration.
