Old videos of vandalism in West Bengal railway station viral with false anti-Muslim claim - Alt News
Kalim Ahmed
27th April 2022 / 5:12 pm / Last updated: 28th April 2022
A 1:28 minute-long video clip is being shared with the claim that the Mahishasur Railway Station in West Bengal was “destroyed by Muslims” because the sound of a train’s horn “interrupted” their prayers.
Twitter user @RatanSharda55 shared this video with the claim that the incident took place in Mahishasur Railway Station in Murshidabad but also added that “other reports” say it happened in Noapara. (Archive link)
Mahishashur raillway station in Murshidabad W Bengal being destroyed allegedly because sound of train whistle is disturbing their #Namaz.
Another report says it’s Noapara.
Not sure of purpose but surely we don’t want to descend to stone age all over again!🙁 pic.twitter.com/8CEI4ZwkvQ
— Ratan Sharda 🇮🇳 रतन शारदा (@RatanSharda55) April 27, 2022
This claim is widely circulating on Twitter.
Mahishashur raillway station in Murshidabad, Bengal being destroyed.
Reason: The sound of the train whistle is disturbing their Namaaz.
We can see the future of India.
@narendramodi @AmitShah @AshwiniUpadhyay @ippatel @girirajsinghbjp @JPNadda @MamataOfficial @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/qbyn4JIV5v
— Nilesh Desai 🚩🇮🇳 (@TheNileshDesai) April 27, 2022
Alt News has also received multiple requests to verify the authenticity of this video.
This video is also viral on Facebook with the same claim. It has been amplified by various prominent right-wing Facebook pages.
Another video that shows people removing railway tracks has also been shared with the same claim.
When Sound of the train whistle disturbs the namaz …
Mahishashur Railway station in Murshidabad district (West Bengal )
1/2 pic.twitter.com/9M2Jixv1L8
— Mini Razdan (@mini_razdan10) April 26, 2022
Alt News has received several requests on its WhatsApp helpline (+9176000 11160) to verify the video.
Video 1
We had a close look at the video and noticed a signboard that reads, “Naopara Mahishasur”. Upon performing a Google keyword search, we found that the station is located in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal. [The station is located in Naopara village in Murshidabad district. Not to be confused with Noapara district.]
At 0:48 seconds, the camera pans out and the surroundings of the station are visible. We compared the visuals with the satellite imagery available on Google Earth Pro and this confirmed that the location is indeed Naopara Mahishasur Railway Station located in West Bengal.
We then performed multiple keyword searches on Facebook and came across various visuals of youth destroying station property. We then noticed two Facebook posts that were made around December 2019. Both these posts featured the Vigo Video ID # 80770612896. The two Facebook posts can be viewed here and here.
Upon comparing these Facebook posts with the viral video, we noticed that one of the youths seen in the viral video (timestamp – 0:25 secs) shares similarities with youths who can be spotted in the Facebook posts.
We did a second visual comparison and noticed that at 0:14 seconds in the viral video, a room is visible that matches the photos posted on Facebook.
Video 2
We looked for the second video using Bangla keywords on YouTube – “নওপাড়া মহিষাসুর স্টেশনে” (Naopara Mahishasur Station) – and found that the same video was uploaded by a local Bangla news channel.
According to NTVWB News, several protests were held against CAB-NRC in Murshidabad and during one such protest, Naopara Mahishasur Railway Station was vandalised. It also reported that people uprooted railway tracks and resorted to arson. Several train schedules were disrupted due to the violence.
The videos are, therefore, old and were possibly shot during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in West Bengal’s Murshidabad. The claim that members of the Muslim community vandalised Naopara Mahishasur Railway Station after a train’s horn “interrupted” namaz is false.
Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc
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