Video of violent police arrest from India's West Bengal state falsely linked to mega-festival
- Published on February 11, 2025 at 07:49
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
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Warning: violent video
"Yogi ji's police are punishing those who pelted stones at the train of innocent devotees going to the Kumbh Mela by throwing them out of their house," read a Hindi-language X post on February 3, 2025, referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (archived link).
It included a video showing a man being hit with sticks while several women try to stop police officers from arresting him.
The post surfaced as local media reported some angry pilgrims threw stones at a train bound for the Kumbh Mela after they were unable to board (archived links).
India's government said more than 420 million pilgrims had already attended the festival, a six-week long celebration of prayer and ritual bathing in the northern city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh (archived link).
It is held every 12 years on the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers, and ends on February 26.
Similar posts on X and Facebook also shared the video but it is unrelated to the Kumbh Mela.
Violent arrest
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video found it was posted on X on January 28, 2025 (archived link).
Its caption read: "Attack on Police personnel in Siuri of Birbhum district,West Bengal. Women tried to snatch the criminals from the police. According to the local sources, the Police went to arrest sand mafia Babu Ansar and others."
According to a report on January 28, 2025 from local media outlet TV9 Bangla which featured a similar clip, residents in West Bengal's Birbhum district attempted to prevent the police from arresting a man involved in a land dispute which led to the violence (archived link).
In the news footage, the police officers could be seen wearing uniforms with badges that read "WBP" -- an abbreviation for West Bengal Police. In one frame, an election banner for the state's ruling All India Trinamool Congress is also visible (archived link).
Sub-inspector Anish Kumar Das from the Suri police station told AFP on February 5 that the video has no connection to the Kumbh Mela, contrary to social media posts.
"The video shows a land dispute between two groups in Mallikpur village, Suri. When the police arrived to control the situation, one of the miscreants grabbed the inspector in charge of the area by the collar. Charges have been filed against him," he said.
AFP previously debunked a wave of misinformation around the Kumbh Mela.
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