CLAIMA video sent to Times Fact Check by a reader on our WhatsApp number 8527001433 shows a Muslim mob vandalising a railway station using sticks and other weapons.
The reader shared the video with a claim that Bangladeshi refugees resorted to violence at a railway station in Kolkata.
The text along with the video warned that if these refugees were granted citizenship in India, violent scenes like these would be an everyday affair.
The reader wanted to know if there was any truth in the claim.
TRUTHThe video is from
Bangladesh
and is almost four years old. In January 2016, a group of madrasah students created mayhem through the
Brahmanbaria
district town, protesting the death of a fellow student in a triangular clash involving the madrasah students, local traders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League.
VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGYAt 0:41 seconds in the video, one can see the name board of the railway station written in Bengali. Taking help of our colleagues at Ei Samay, we identified the station as ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়া (Brahmanbaria).
We then used keywords ‘ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়া station clash’ on Google and found a
report dated January 14, 2016 published on The Daily Sun. The used an image similar to the visuals seen in the video shared with us by the reader.
The report stated how a violent Muslim mob from a
madrassa
vandalised 12 establishments, set fire to two others and blocked the train tracks.
Taking a cue from this report and setting custom time filter on Google search to 10-20 January 2016, we found a video uploaded on
YouTube dated January 15, 2016.
Titled ‘B-Baria Bangladesh Bramon Baria’, the video was a slightly longer version of the same video as shared by reader above.
VERDICTTimes Fact Check has found that an old video from Bangladesh is being circulated on WhatsApp with a false claim that Bangladesh refugees vandalized a railway station in Kolkata.