Police say video was filmed in India – it does not show 'Muslims beating Hindu leader in Bangladesh'

The 30-second video was shared in a tweet on May 4, 2022. 

The Hindi-language caption translates to English as: "In Bangladesh, a Hindu leader was brutally beaten up by Mohammad Jameel for not attending an Iftar party.

"Wherever Islam has a large number of followers, there is a similar atrocity with [non-Muslims]."

Iftar refers to the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast. 

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A screenshot of the misleading post captured on May 11, 2022

The video circulated online after Jiten Kanti Guha, a prominent Bangladeshi leader of the minority Hindu community in the country was hospitalised after being beaten by supporters of a local government official on April 29, 2022, according to Bangladesh-based newspaper The Daily Star.

The video circulated alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here; and on Twitter here and here. 

But the footage has been shared in a misleading context.

India attack

The video has previously circulated in Indian media reports about an attack in the north Indian state of Haryana.

A reverse image search of the video’s screengrabs, followed by a keyword search, found stills of the clip published in a report by Indian news website The Times of India on May 2, 2022.

"Man brutally beaten by group of men in Yamunanagar village," the report’s headline reads.

Yamunanagar is a city in north Indian state of Haryana.

According to the report, a group of men attacked a truck driver over a monetary dispute.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the image published in the Times of India report (right):

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Comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the image published in the Times of India report (right)

On May 1, 2022, Hindi-language newspapers Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran included screenshots of the footage in reports about the same incident in Yamunanagar.

Inspector Satish Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Sadhaura police station, told AFP there was "no communal angle" to the case.

"The victim was a Hindu Jat. This was a case of money transaction in which some people had beaten up [the victim] badly, he suffered serious injuries to the hands, legs and also the head. 

"He is undergoing treatment. On the basis of [the victim’s] statement and video, some of the accused have been arrested and we are still searching for the other attackers."

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