Old Clip of Children in Truck Falsely Shared as One of Rohingya Muslims in India

The video shows Muslim children from West Bengal and Bihar, who had returned to Kolhapur for studies after holidays.

A video showing several children being escorted off a truck in the presence of police personnel is being shared on social media.

The claim: The video is being shared with the following claim - "A truck carrying Rohingya Muslims was caught in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Mamata Banerjee is bringing them from Bangladesh and filling the entire country."

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No. The incident dates back to May 2023 and shows Muslim children from Bihar and West Bengal returning to a madarsa in Kolhapur after holidays.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a keyword search with the term "truck muslim children kolhapur" for more information.

• This led us to a report by ABP Majha, which carried the same video and was shared on 17 May 2023.

• It mentioned that a truck carrying 63 Muslim children aged between seven to 14 years, who studied at a madarsa was caught in Maharashtra.

• This truck full of children was viewed by suspicion by pro-Hindutva groups, who reported the incident to the police.

• Their investigation found that these children, who had gone home to their villages in Bihar for their holidays, returned to Kolhapur via train and were being ferried to their madarsa in Ajra, the report added.

• We found the same information in news reports by Lokmat, Zee News Marathi and TV9 Bharatvarsh.

• The police initially suspected it to be a case of child trafficking, a report by IANS said, as the children had come from West Bengal and Bihar and not neighbouring states.

• However, upon investigation, they found that the children had come to Kolhapur for religious education, it added.

• The video report also carried a byte by Kolhapur's then-Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mangesh Chavan, who said that as per the children's AADHAAR cards, they came from West Bengal and Bihar.

Chavan's statement can also heard in a video on Marathi media page Marathi NEWJ's Facebook page.

Conclusion: An old video of Muslim children from Bihar and West Bengal traveling in a truck in Maharashtra's Kolhapur has gone viral with a false claim.

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