Unrelated photos are being shared as ‘Atrocities on Hindus in West Bengal’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 9, 2021
Many violent photos are being shared by multiple users on social media with a claim that they show the atrocities on Hindus in West Bengal. The photos were shared with the hashtag – ‘#StandWithBengalHindus’ on Twitter. Let’s fact-check if the photos are related to West Bengal.
Claim: Photos show the atrocities on Hindus in West Bengal.
Fact: The photos are not related to West Bengal. Many photos are related to Bangladesh. One photo was taken from a film. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Photo 1: (archived)
The photo was found to be taken in 2013 during a violent protest in Dhaka (Bangladesh). In other photos related to the incident on the ‘Daily Mail’ website, the logo of Dhaka Metropolitan Police can be seen on the vehicles. So, this photo is not related to West Bengal (India).
Photo 2: (archived)
All the three photos in the collage were taken in Bangladesh in March 2021 ‘during a nationwide strike following deadly clashes with police over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit’ to Bangladesh. The photos (1, 2, 3) can be found on the ‘Getty Images’ website. So, the photos are related to Bangladesh, not West Bengal (India).
Photo 3: (archived)
This photo can be also found on the ‘Getty Images’ website. The description of the photo is given as – ‘Activists of the Hifazat-e Islam group clash with police (unseen) in Chittagong on March 26, 2021 during a demonstration against Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh. (Photo by – / AFP)’.  So, this is one more photo from Bangladesh.
Photo 4, 5, 6: (archived, archived, archived)
These photos were previously debunked by FACTLY in 2020 when they were shared with a similar claim. The fact-check articles can be found here and here. While one photo is taken from a Bhojpuri film, the other two are related to Pakistan.
Photo 7: (archived)
While FACTLY independently could not verify the location of this photo, VHP spokesperson Vijay Shankar Tiwari and some websites have published the same photo in May 2020 and mentioned that it is related to an incident in Haryana.
While there are photos (archived) related to West Bengal which are shared with the hashtag -‘#StandWithBengalHindus’, the above photos are not related to West Bengal.
To sum it up, many unrelated photos are being falsely shared as ‘Atrocities on Hindus in West Bengal’.