Fact Check: Video of CAA Protest in Bengal in 2019 Goes Viral with Misleading Communal Claim

New Delhi Vishvas News – A video is going viral on social media where some people can be seen vandalizing a railway station. The viral post claims that the incident happened at Navpada Mahishasur railway station in West Bengal, where some people vandalised the railway station complaining of disturbances during namaz caused by train whistles.

Vishvas News investigated the viral post and found that the video is not recent but from an anti-CAA protest in West Bengal in 2019.  

What is Going Viral?

 Facebook user ‘Rajesh Chourasiya’ shared the video on July 8, 2024, claiming: Translated: “Mahishasur railway station in West Bengal destroyed by jihadists. Look at the courage of Jihadis in Mamata Bano ruled Bengal. Mahishasur railway station in Murshidabad, West Bengal was destroyed saying that the train whistle was disturbing their prayers. The current government of India should answer for the above act because now the matter is of destroying the properties under the Central Government and disrupting the facilities of the entire public.”

View the archive link of the post here.

Investigation:

This misleading claim was circulated earlier as well and Vishvas News investigated it. Previously, we investigated this claim using a Google reverse image search and found the video was uploaded on a YouTube channel named ‘Wild Films India’ on Nov 18, 2020. According to the video description, it was related to the anti-CAA protests in West Bengal. We also found similar videos on Facebook in 2019 with the same Anti-CAA protests claim.

We also found a longer version of the viral video on YouTube.  A channel named Mohammad Ejaz Ahmed uploaded the full video on December 14, 2019, with the same claim.

We searched with related keywords. We found a news report published on December 15, 2019 on Eismaya.com. The report was about anti-CAA protests in Bengal. It also discussed arson and vandalism at several railway stations in Murshidabad.

We spoke with a local journalist from Murshidabad district, Anand Saha, who said “The viral video is from 2019, during protests against the CAA. People vandalised several railway stations, including Navpada Mahishasur, during these protests.”

We also scanned the profile of Facebook user Rajesh Chourasiya, who had shared the viral video with false claims. He has around 3,000 followers on Facebook.