Video of flag vendor beating in Bangladesh falsely shared as incident in India

Published on July 17, 2025 at 11:56
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

A video of a vendor selling Bangladeshi flags being beaten up by a uniformed man has circulated in social media posts that falsely claim the incident took place in India's West Bengal state. The clip has in fact circulated in Bangladeshi media reports about a flag seller who was beaten by a soldier during a football match in the capital Dhaka on June 10, 2025.

The 12-second clip of a uniformed man hitting another man carrying a bundle of flags was shared on Facebook on June 15, with the Hindi-language caption praising an Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier for the "treatment given to a Bangladeshi flag seller in West Bengal".

"There should be restrictive action against traitors who live in India and hoist the flags of enemy nations Pakistan, Bangladesh and Palestine. Action should also be taken against those who make and sell these flags," adds the caption.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken July 15, 2025, with a red X mark added by AFP

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The clip surfaced on Facebook and X as India deported hundreds of people to Bangladesh without trial, officials on both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling (archived link).

New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants. However, the move has triggered fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka's government that was led by Sheikh Hasina, an Indian ally.

However, the clip was filmed in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, not India.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from clip found it used in a news report published on the verified YouTube channel of Bangladeshi news portal Dhaka Post on June 12, 2025 (archived link).

The Bengali-language report is titled, "Army gifts 100,000 Bangladeshi Taka (US$824) to a flag seller injured in baton charge".

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (L) and the video shared by Dhaka Post

The report states the Bangladeshi army compensated the flag seller after he was hit by a soldier who was attempting to control crowds during a football match between Bangladesh and Singapore on June 10.

The same video was also used by Bangladeshi media outlet News1 TV in its report about the flag seller's compensation, while another local outlet Jugantor reported the beating took place as soldiers tried to push back crowds -- some without tickets -- who tried to rush the gates of the stadium (archived links here and here).

The army described it as an "unintentional and isolated incident", the reports added.

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