Unrelated old video falsely shared as recent visuals of Hindus burnt alive by Muslims in West Bengal - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 25, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Hindus burnt alive by Muslims in the Birbhum district in West Bengal. This post claims that recently, after the murder of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh, a Muslim mob attacked Hindu houses in Birbhum and burnt 12 Hindus locking alive them in their houses. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Hindus who were burnt alive by Muslims in West Bengal.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows the visuals of an old bus accident that took place in Odisha, in 2020. The West Bengal Police through a tweet clarified that no Hindu women or children were killed during the recent violence in Birbhum, West Bengal. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent violence in Birbhum. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, we could not find any reliable source of the video. However, if we look at the video carefully, one could see that the burnt dead bodies were placed next to a bus. When searched for this video using relevant keywords, a similar bus photo was found in a tweet made by ‘Sambad English’ news channel on 09 February 2020. This news website reported that at least 11 passengers were killed and 30 passengers were injured in a bus accident that took place in the Ganjam district in Odisha. Reporting the same, ‘The New India Express’ journalist Hemant Kumar Raut had also tweeted a similar video on 09 February 2020.
Reporting complete details of this bus accident, several news websites published articles in February 2020. They can be seen here and here.
Also, the West Bengal Police through a tweet clarified that no Hindu women or children were killed during the recent violent attacks in Baguti village in Birbhum. The West Bengal Police said that they have initiated appropriate legal action against persons who were trying to communalise the tragic incident in Birbhum through misleading posts. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and not related to the recent violent attacks in Birbhum.
pic.twitter.com/lCRVO04k7w
To sum it up, an unrelated old video is being shared as recent visuals of Hindus burnt alive by Muslims in West Bengal.