Amid ongoing tensions in West Bengal surrounding the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025, a disturbing video is being widely shared on social media. The footage shows a police officer brutally beating a man with a stick. Users claim the video is recent and allege that the man is being targeted for organising a prabhat pheri on Hanuman Jayanti.
The caption in Hindi with the video reads:वीडियो बीरभूमि बंगाल से आया है, पिटने वाला हिन्दू है, पीटने वाले पुलिस वाले SP निशात परवेज़ और ADSP फ़रहत अब्बास है, अपराध ये है कि हनुमान जयंती पर प्रभात फेरी का आयोजन किया था, ममता बानो ने बंगाल में शरिया लगा रखा है और हिंदुओं का जीवन नर्क बना दिया है। (English version: “The video is from Birbhum Bengal.. The person being beaten is a Hindu.. The policemen who beat him are SP Nishat Parvez and ADSP Farhat Abbas.. The crime is that prabhat pheri was organised on Hanuman Jayanti.. Mamata Bano has imposed Sharia in Bengal and has made the life of Hindus hell.”)
The above post, dated April 19, 2025, can be seen here (archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be Misleading.
Running the InVid-extracted video keyframes through Reverse Image Search, the NM team found the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel — India Zone — on September 30, 2014.
Also, the same footage has been recycled multiple times in the past with varying narratives. Older social media posts — archived here and here — demonstrate how the video has previously been misused to push different agendas.
Importantly, the official X (formerly Twitter) account of West Bengal Police had addressed this video back in July 2017. Responding to similar claims at that time, the police clarified that the video was being circulated with a false communal twist. They had also announced the arrest of Tarun Sengupta, then Secretary of the BJP IT Cell in Asansol, for spreading fake news and inciting communal disharmony.
Tarun Sengupta, Secretary BJP IT Cell, Asansol, WB, arrested today for spreading fake news and creating communal disharmony. pic.twitter.com/GRWSPPnMq5
— CID West Bengal (@CIDWestBengal) July 12, 2017
Thus, we can conclusively say that this 2014 viral video has been linked to the recent violence in West Bengal or Hanuman Jayanti celebrations with false communal claims.
