The bill changed a bill that changed the way Muslim-owned property is managed in the wake of deadly protests in India’s West Bengal, which incorrectly claimed in the footage of a crowd of police officers in social media posts. However, the clip started in 2020 and showed conflicts during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“After prayers in West Bengal on Friday, security personnel themselves need protection,” the Hindi title of the video shared on Facebook on April 19, 2025.
“Is this West Bengal or Bangladesh of India??” The post continued, referring to the retaliatory attacks against Hindus by most Muslim neighbors in India after the removal of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (archive link).
The clip shows a group of people, some wearing white hats worn by Muslim men, and police officers in blue uniforms and police officers scratched.
Screenshot of False Facebook post, captured on April 23, 2025
The same footage with false claims is also shared by Facebook, X and elsewhere on Instagram.
A bill broke out in West Bengal to overhaul the huge wealthy Muslim land ownership organization (archived link), three people killed in West Bengal, which broke out in West Bengal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government believes that reforms will increase transparency in land management by taking charge of a strong WAQF board (archived link).
Opposition criticized the government and called the bill a polarized “attack” against Indian Muslim minorities.
Comments from social media users suggest they believe the video passed the protests after the bill passed.
“Wake up Hindus, wake up and see what’s going on, and if you’re not awake now, when will you wake up?” Read a comment about one of the articles.
Another said: “Seeing this, Bangladesh seems to have become a part of Pakistan.”
However, using the wrong shared video keyframes to reverse the image on Google, it was discovered that the Indian news agency ANI released the clip (archive link) on April 28, 2020.
“A group of people gathered at a market in Tikiapara in Howrah – ignoring the lockdown, as they asked the crowd to return home, attacked police officers and pel bones of the stone. Two police officers were injured,” its title said.
Comparison of screenshots of fake post videos (left) and videos on ANI official X account
Today India also reported screenshots of the video, where mobs attacked several officers locked the lockdown in the Archived Link in West Bengal.
West Bengal Police issued a statement on X on April 29, 2020, saying they had taken strong actions against the participants (archive link).
At the time, hundreds of millions of Indians were locked down as the country took steps to stop the spread of Covid (archive link).
AFP here and here debunks other misinformation about the unrest in India in West Bengal.
