Old clip of assault on family falsely linked to Indian Muslim land boards overhaul protest

Published on April 17, 2025 at 08:36
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

As deadly protests broke out in India over legislation to change how Muslim-owned properties are managed, social media users shared an old clip falsely claiming it depicted Muslims assaulting Hindus in the eastern state of West Bengal. But the video was published in news reports in 2024 that said it shows a land dispute-related violence in the northern state of Rajasthan.

"In Murshidabad, West Bengal, there were protests against the Waqf board that involved arson," says a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on April 13, 2025, which includes a clip that shows several men throwing stones at a group of people.

The boards control properties gifted by Muslim charitable endowments.

"Three Hindus of the same family were also beaten to death", the post goes on to say.

"Bengal has become like Bangladesh, jihadists are breaking into the houses of the poor Hindus," it continues, referring to the turbulent religious relations in the neighbouring country that has left many religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation fearful of persecution (archived link).

Screenshot of the false post, taken on April 15, 2025

Similar claims were shared alongside the same video on Facebook and X after three people were killed in deadly protests that erupted in West Bengal over the passage of a bill to reform hugely wealthy Muslim land-owning organisations (archived link).

According to the ruling Hindu nationalist government, it will boost transparency around land management by holding accountable powerful Waqf boards.

The opposition, however, has called the bill a polarising "attack" on India's Muslim minority. They accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to win favour with its right-wing Hindu base.

But the video is not related to the protests.

A reverse image search of keyframes on Google found India Today published the clip on April 9, 2024 in a video report (archived link).

It said masked men tried to enter the home of the family of five in the western Indian state of Rajasthan and pelted them with stones. Police suspected the attack is related to a land dispute, and two people were arrested over the incident.

Screenshot comparison of the false post video (left) and India Today's video

Other outlets also published the clip in reports about the assault (archived here, here and here).

A senior officer of Jaipur Police, Kavendra Sagar, told AFP on April 14 that both parties in the incident were from the Hindu community and "there was no communal angle".

"The accused were immediately arrested and sent to jail," he said.

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