Video of Boy Being Thrashed in West Bengal Shared With a False Communal Angle

West Bengal police confirmed to The Quint that both the accused and survivor belonged to the same community.

Fact-Check: This video has been shared with a false communal spin.

(Source: The Quint) 

(Advisory: The contents of the video are graphic and violent in nature. Viewer's discretion is advised.)

A video showing a mob thrashing a boy is being shared on social media platforms. In the clip, a girl, who is profusely bleeding is also seen.

The claim: Those sharing wrote that a Muslim boy stabbed a Hindu girl in broad daylight in West Bengal.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: No, the claim is false.

• News reports about the case and West Bengal police confirmed to The Quint that the matter was not of a communal nature and both parties belonged to the same religion.

• A boy named Abhijit Dutta of Belgharia in West Bengal stabbed a 14-year-old girl.

What we found: We broke down the video into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across a report by the Times of India from 5 September which included a similar image as one of the frames of the viral video.

• In the report, the boy was identified as one Abhijit Dutta from Prafulla Nagar in Belgharia, who assaulted a 14-year-old girl by stabbing her multiple times with a sharp weapon after she allegedly hit him for making an inappropriate remark.

• The boy had confessed his feelings for the girl before, but she had rejected him.

• The girl suffered severe injuries on her shoulders, neck, and head, was taken to a private hospital near EM Bypass, where she was treated.

• Following the attack, the youth was beaten by bystanders until he was left unconscious.

The boy attacked the girl after she rejected his advances.

(Source: TOI/Screenshot)

• Other publications such as the Statesman and the Telegraph also reported on this incident.

• Reports mentioned that locals in the area protested against this incident near the Belgharia Expressway.

• None of the reports hinted at a communal tone about this incident.

Police comments: We spoke to Belgharia police who denied any communal angle to the incident. They mentioned that both the accused and the victim belonged to the same community.

• We also went through the X (formerly Twitter) page of Barrackpore police and came across a post from 5 September which mentioned this incident.

• They wrote, "With reference to the incident under Belgharia PS jurisdiction, a girl who was attacked by a person with a sharp-edged weapon (দা ), a specific case under proper sections of law has been registered. Police arrested one accused person and all proper legal actions are being taken." (sic.)

Conclusion: The video of the boy being thrashed is being shared with a false communal spin.

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