In many areas of West Bengal, there were widespread clashes on the occasion of Ram Navami. Howrah and Islampur witnessed clashes between two groups. West Bengal government has also handed over the probe into violence to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Against this backdrop, a video showing a large gathering of people from the Muslim community on railway platforms and tracks is widely shared on social media. It claims that the Muslims in West Bengal are offering Ramzan prayers by stopping the train.
The video is shared on Facebook with a caption: “ममता दीदी के पश्चिम बंगाल से आया वीडियो जहां माहे रमजान में भाईचारा कायम रखने के लिए रेलवे का आवागमन रोककर नमाज अदा की जा रही है” (English translation: Video from West Bengal of Mamata didi where Namaz is being offered by stopping railway traffic to maintain brotherhood in the month of Ramzan)
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
After carefully looking at the video, we found the station written as ‘Akra’ in English, Hindi, and what seems to be the Bengali language. We found that there is a railway station named ‘Akra’ in West Bengal. This station comes in the South 24 Parganas district.
Searching further, we found the same video shared by several Facebook users in April 2021 as well, with a caption: “This is Akra railway station at 24 Parganas area in West Bengal. The railway line is blocked and the trains have to wait till their Namaz is over. All this is happening under the supervision of police.”
The oldest post we could find was dated March 22, 2021, that carried the same viral video. Even at that time, questions were raised by sharing this video that the law was being broken by offering Namaz on the tracks.
We could not find any recent media report stating that Namaz was offered at Akra railway station in West Bengal. Had such incident happened recently, mainstream media would have covered it. Though we could not ascertain the exact time of the viral video, it is clear that the video is not recent.
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