Footage of post-poll violence in West Bengal election falsely linked to Indian 'cockroach' protests
- Published on August 8, 2026 at 10:10
- 2 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
Actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut faced online backlash for her disparaging remarks about young protesters involved in India's social media-led "cockroach" movement over leaked examination papers and other alleged irregularities, but footage circulating online does not show a crowd attacking the lawmaker. The clip predates the criticism over Ranaut's remarks and actually shows a different woman being heckled in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. Local police have also confirmed to AFP the woman in the video is not Ranaut.
"Controversy escalates following remarks on 'Gen Z'; Kangana Ranaut surrounded by women upon stepping out of her car; allegedly slapped," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on August 2, 2026.
Ranaut, an Indian actress, has been a serving parliamentarian for the ruling Indian nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2024 (archived link).
Footage attached to the post shows a crowd of people pulling a woman out of a car and hitting her even as police officers try to protect her while onlookers film the incident on their mobile phones.
Hindi-language text overlaid on the video largely repeats the claim.
Content warning
The footage appeared elsewhere on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X following the resignation of Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25, which ended weeks of protests by the social-media-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar (archived link).
The movement was sparked by outrage over leaked exam papers of a key medical school entrance examination, but evolved to include calls for wider education reforms, concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what critics brand as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's increasingly authoritarian style of governance (archived link).
Ranaut took to Instagram to criticise the young demonstrators, calling them the "gutter generation" (archived link).
Her remarks drew strong backlash, including from CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, saying: "Who even takes her seriously?" (archived link).
Comments lauding the assault footage suggest some users believed it to be genuine.
"Anyone who speaks ill of our daughters should be punished, regardless of which party they belong to," one comment reads.
But the clip in fact shows an attack on an opposition All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party leader's daughter in West Bengal, not Ranaut.
Unrelated video
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip found the same footage shared on Facebook on July 30 (archived link).
Its Bengali-language caption reads, "Public outrage erupts at Jalpaiguri Kotwali Police Station as Krishna Das's daughter arrives."
Bengali-language text overlaid on the video largely repeats the caption.
Content warning
Indian news website The Telegraph reported Pranayita Das, a TMC member and daughter of a veteran former TMC leader, was assaulted outside Jalpaiguri Police Station as she arrived for an investigation into a post-poll violence case (archived link).
Das and her father were named in a case alleging attacks on a ruling BJP member following the May 4 election results, which ended the TMC's rule in the West Bengal state.
AFP contacted the Jalpaiguri police station, and a sub-inspector confirmed the video was shot on the station premises showing Pranayita Das.
"The woman in the video is not Kangana Ranaut," he told AFP on August 4.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the CJP-led protests.
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