The story uses only screenshots in view of the graphic nature of the video being fact-checked.
A video is viral on social media showing several dead bodies, mostly of women, laid on the ground. Around a minute long, the video comes with an embedded text in Hindi which translates to ‘The condition of Hindus in Bangladesh.’ Injured people on stretchers can also be seen in the video, beside those mourning the dead.
The clip is being shared with the claim that Muslims in Bangladesh have raped and murdered scores of Hindu women amid the targeted attacks on minorities in the neighbouring country. The unrest, which began with rallies against former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has not subsided after the formation of a new government led by Muhammad Yunus.
X user Sonali Rai (@RaiSonali17) shared the video with a Hindi caption. She alleged that in Bangladesh, women had been raped and killed by Muslims. At the time of this article being written, the post has amassed more than 3 Lakh views, and close to 5,500 retweets. (Archive)
Another X user, Manoj Srivastava (@ManojSr60583090) wrote while tweeting the video that women of all ages, from 1 to 70, had been raped and murdered by Muslim men. (Archive)
Several other X accounts, which we noticed were verified, posted the viral video with the same claim. (Archives 1, 2, 3)
Click to view slideshow.
The same claim was viral on Facebook as well.
Click to view slideshow.Fact Check
We ran a reverse image search on a key-frame from the viral video, and were led to this Instagram post, from July 5, 2024.
From this, it is certain that the viral video is at least 5 months old.
Thereafter, we ran another reverse image search on a different frame from the viral video, and came across this YouTube video, uploaded on July 3, 2024. We conducted a thorough comparison of this video with the one that went viral, and could conclude that they depict the same location. We are not using those frames in the story for their graphic nature of the footage.
The caption of the video suggests that it depicts the aftermath of a tragic stampede, at the venue of a satsang (spiritual prayer) of one ‘Bhole Baba’, in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. Furthermore, the video comes with a description in Hindi, reporting on the death of 122 people, most of them women.
To verify this, we ran a relevant keyword search, and found this article by Hindustan Times, which reports on the death of 121 people (as opposed to the count of 122 as mentioned in the YouTube video above), at Phulrai village, on July 2.
‘Bhole Baba’ is a former police constable turned self-styled godman, whose real name is Suraj Pal Singh. On investigating further, we found that only 80,000 people had been initially cleared to enter the prayer field, but the event ended up accomodating nearly 250,000 people. After the event, as Suraj Pal Singh got off stage to get to his car, scores of people rushed after him to touch his feet, triggering a deadly stampede in the process, and resulting in the death of 121 people.
To sum up, the video which is viral on social media alleging that scores of Hindu women have been raped and murdered by Muslims in Bangladesh, actually shows footage of the aftermath of a tragic stampede in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India, on July 2, 2024.
The post Video from Hathras stampede falsely viral as killing of Hindus in Bangladesh appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Prantik Ali.
Prantik Ali | Radio Free (2024-12-05T12:39:40+00:00) Video from Hathras stampede falsely viral as killing of Hindus in Bangladesh. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2024/12/05/video-from-hathras-stampede-falsely-viral-as-killing-of-hindus-in-bangladesh/
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