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Sharing a video of several people standing on both sides of a barbed wire fence, social media users have claimed that it shows recent visuals of the India-Bangladesh border, taken in Assam.
Those sharing it have also linked it to the recent turmoil in Bangladesh, expecting the Indian government to "immediately provide shelter and safety to the innocent Hindus of Bangladesh who suffered in such a situation..."
An archived version of this post can be seen here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)
But...?: This clip is neither recent nor is it related to the recent violence in Bangladesh.
The video is six years old and shows the India-Bangladesh Milan Mela, an annual event where people from both countries can meet and exchange gifts with people on the other side.
How did we find out the truth?: Using INVid, a video verification extension on Google Chrome, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on some of them.
During one of these searches, we came across the same video on YouTube, where it was shared with the title 'India Bangladesh Milan Mela 15 April 2018. মিলন মেলা at India Bangladesh border'.
We noticed that this video was uploaded six years ago, on 5 June 2018.
The video was shared six years ago, on 5 June 2018.
(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)
A keyword search on YouTube showed us similar visuals shared over the years by news organisations and other channels, including this one from 2022.
What is the India-Bangladesh Milan Mela?: We looked for more information about the event using its name as keywords, which showed us several news reports about it.
According to Amar Ujala, it is an annual event held at two Border Security Force (BSF) outposts in West Bengal, where people arrive to meet their friends and relatives living in Bangladesh.
The mela, which was set up in collaboration with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), sees large crowd turning up to exchange sweets and gifts, which are often flung over the barbed wire.
The event was cancelled in 2023 over concerns of infiltration and smuggling, Anandabazar reported.
While we could not independently verify the date or location of the viral video, we can confirm that it is unrelated to the recent conflict in Bangladesh.
Conclusion: A 2018 video is being shared to claim that it shows recent visuals from the India-Bangladesh border in Assam.
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