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(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.
(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.
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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