By Runjay Kumar
A video of a Muharram procession in West Bengal's Murshidabad district has surfaced and is circulating with false claims that it shows children brandishing arms in Haryana which was recently rocked by communal riots.
The video was initially tweeted by right wing Twitter handle Kreately on August 1 with the caption, "Peaceful kids playing with toys".
It was later picked up by several accounts which claimed that the video shows an incident from Haryana that led to the recent violence in the state. A major violence began on July 31 in Haryana's Mewat area during a religious procession organised by pro-Hindu organisations Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The clashes later spread to its neighbourhood areas including Faridabad and Gurugram. Six persons reportedly lost their lives due to the violence. Haryana police have already arrested around 150 people over charges of taking part in the violence.
The video shows visuals of minors waving Islamic flags and swords and dancing as they march in what appears to be a procession. BOOM was able to confirm that the video was shot during a Muharram procession in West Bengal's Murshidabad district.
The video is circulating with a hashtag on Twitter linked to the violence that took place in Mewat, Haryana. One such caption reads, "K!ll them or d!e, We’ll anyways get Jannat after de*th." What they teach to there children's". (sic)
Click here to view the tweet.
The video is also being shared on Facebook with a similar false claim.
Click here to view the post.
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Fact Check
BOOM noticed a globe with a logo of West Bengal government's initiative 'Biswa Bangla' present on the road where the video was recorded. We also observed that some statues are also present under the globe.
Taking a cue, we ran a keyword search related to West Bengal and found a Facebook reel fromAugust 3, 2023. The reel was uploaded by a user named Shaikh Aptaj Bharatiya.
The reel showed the same visuals present in the viral video. Facebook user Shaikh Aptaj Bharatiya shared the video on July 29 stating that it is a Muharram procession from Dhuliyan, Murshidabad.
We then ran a keyword search on Google using words such as "Dhuliyan, Murshidabad" and found a video from a YouTube account. In this video also, one can notice a globe and a poster beside it which is also present in the viral video. The caption stated that the video is from 'main road in Dhuliyan'.
Taking a cue, we searched with related keywords on Google Maps and found the location on Google Street View. When we compared the visuals of Google Street View with the viral video, we noticed that the house, the Biswa Bangla globe and the poster are same. The comparison can be seen below.
We reached out to Murshidabad-based journalist Ajfarul for details about the incident. Ajfarul told BOOM, "This video is from a Muharram rally which happened on July 29 this year. The rally took place in Dhuliyan, Murshidabad."
Additionally, BOOM reached out to Aptaj who confirmed to BOOM that he shot the video. Aptaj told BOOM, "I recorded the video on July 29 this year in Dhuliyan, Murshidabad . The Muharram rally began from Dhuliyan Ghat around 2:00-2:30 pm. I uploaded the video on my Facebook page."
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