2013 picture from Bangladesh shared as BJP member assaulting elderly Muslim man

A photograph of a man assaulting an elderly man by pulling his beard in the presence of a policeman is viral on social media. As per the claims, a BJP member was assaulting a Muslim. One Shahfeeq Bhai had posted the image on Facebook in April this year with the caption “Ye police wala nahi BJP ka kutta hai. (translation: this is not a policeman but a BJP dog).” The picture is being shared with the text “3 din ka andaar ya haat jodta hua nazar ayenga agar acche sa viral hua toh agar musalman ho aur nabi ki sunnat sa pyaar krte ho to sabi groups ma share karo (Translation: In 3 days this man will be seen folding his hands if this goes viral. If you are a Muslim and love your prophet, share in all groups.)” The post has been shared over 10,000 times.

The picture has been circulating since 2018.

3 din ka andaar ya haat jodta hua nazar ayenga agar acche sa viral hua toh agar musalman ho aur nabi ki sunnat sa pyaar krte ho to sabi groups ma share karo#India #Pakistan #Muslims pic.twitter.com/hWUFnBXejp

— 𝕱𝖆𝖎𝖟𝖆𝖓 𝖅 𝕭𝖍𝖆𝖙 فیضان ظہور بھٹ۔ (@FZBtweets) November 24, 2018

Recently, we have received requests to verify the image on the Alt News app, which suggests that the photograph has been doing rounds on WhatsApp as well.

Fact-check

A reverse image search on Google led Alt News to multiple blog posts carrying the same picture. A 2013 blog post on Insanity for Humanity had uploaded the image with the caption – “Torture on older Islamists by opposition thugs in presence of Police in Bangladesh, #Paltan #Dhaka [13 Feb, 13]”. The blog also had another image of the same incident.

Another article on the blog Talukdar Saheb had the same picture with the caption – “A young ruling party activist grabs the beard of an alleged Islamist protester as he helps police in the hunt for protesters as reporters and journalists look on bewildered at the aggressive stance of police”. The article had cited various newspapers of Bangladesh like Nyaya Dignata, Amar Desh and Daily Star which had reported the incident. Daily Nyaya Dignata also wrote about the incident on their Facebook page.

An article published in Bengali on somewhereinblog.net on February 14, 2013, gives details of the incident. It says that during a protest, Bangladesh Chhatra League supporters assaulted an elderly Muslim man in front of the police in the Motijheel area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The article also says that the photo was published in various national newspapers in Bangladesh.

This was earlier fact-checked by India Today.

In conclusion, a 2013 picture from Bangladesh is viral on social media with the claim that it shows a BJP member assaulting an elderly Muslim man in India.