A video recorded by a drone is circulating on social media purportedly depicting a protest demanding justice for the August 9 rape and murder at Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital. In the video, the patriotic Bengali song “Dhana Dhanyo Pushpe Bhora,” written by Dwijendralal Roy, plays in the background. It is being claimed that a large candle-light march was carried out in Kolkata, with people coming out en masse for justice in the case. Debajit Sarkar, affiliated with the ABVP, shared the video with a similar claim.
History has been created!
The people of entire Kolkata took to the streets today. It is impossible to stop this movement until Tilottama gets justice#RGKarProtest pic.twitter.com/BEYdRUnWiV— ᴅᴇʙᴀᴊɪᴛ ꜱᴀʀᴋᴀʀ🇮🇳 (@debajits3110) September 4, 2024
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared the video, making a similar claim, though he later deleted his tweet. However, an archived version can still be viewed here. (Archived link)
BJP spokesperson Pratyush Kanth also shared this video. (Archived link)
Last night, West Bengal erupts in #JusticeForRGKar protest with Dwijendralal Ray’s patriotic classic, ‘Dhana Dhanyo Pushpe Bhora’.. pic.twitter.com/drYUVVRFoJ
— Pratyush Kanth (@PratyushKanth) September 5, 2024
Several Facebook users echoed the same claim while sharing the video, reinforcing the narrative that it was part of the protest in Kolkata.
Fact Check
We saw that several social media users had commented saying that the video was from Bangladesh. Keeping this in mind, we performed keyword searches. We found the same video posted by a Bangladeshi user on YouTube on August 11, 2024. According to its caption, a candle-light demonstration was held at Uttara to pay tribute to the martyrs. Uttara is a neighbourhood adjacent to Dhaka.
Further searches revealed the same video posted on Facebook on August 9, where it was also described as a tribute to martyrs at a congregation at Uttara. This timeline is important. The R G Kar incident occurred on August 9, meaning the video could not be connected to a protest in Kolkata. The footage has been online since the same day the Kolkata incident occurred, suggesting there is no link between the two.
On August 9, another video of a candle march was also posted on X along with this video. A Bangladeshi user shared this and wrote, “Candlelight vigil and national anthem ceremony today at Uttara Friend’s Club as the whole community came together to remember the martyrs.”
candlelight vigil and national anthem ceremony today at uttara friend’s club as the whole community came together to remember the martyrs pic.twitter.com/RkkXGb5sMj
— faiyaz 🇧🇩 (@catstits) August 9, 2024
The tribute event was also covered by Bangladeshi news channels on August 9. Through additional keyword searches, Alt News found a Facebook post dated August 8, announcing the candlelight vigil that would take place on August 9 at Uttara Friends Club. The location and details matched the viral video, confirming its origin.
To sum up, a viral video showing scenes from a candlelight vigil in Bangladesh was falsely circulated as a protest against the RG Kar incident in Kolkata.
The post Amit Malviya shares Bangladesh candle-light vigil video as R G Kar protest in Kolkata appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Priyanka Jha.
Priyanka Jha | Radio Free (2024-09-06T09:06:12+00:00) Amit Malviya shares Bangladesh candle-light vigil video as R G Kar protest in Kolkata. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2024/09/06/amit-malviya-shares-bangladesh-candle-light-vigil-video-as-r-g-kar-protest-in-kolkata/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.