A video of a crowd of people thrashing a man dressed in white is being circulated on social media with the claim that a man was attacked for performing Puja at his home in West Bengal. “It is dangerous to even perform Puja at home in West Bengal. A man who follows Sanatana Dharma performed aarti at home and was beaten on the streets in front of his daughter,” reads the viral message.
बंगाल में घर में भी पूजा अर्चना करना खतरा है, सनातनी ने अपने ही घर में आरती की, तो बेटी के सामने खींचकर बीच सड़क पर पीटा, इतना रीट्वीट करें की बंगाल ही नहीं देश के हर व्यक्ति तक पहुंचे🙏#कितनी_पीढ़ियों_तक_आरक्षण@BJP4India@AmitShah @narendramodi @BJP4Bengall pic.twitter.com/pvp6E1mfzE
— विपिन शर्मा🇮🇳 (@Bipin_Hindu) March 21, 2021
[Translated from: बंगाल में घर में भी पूजा अर्चना करना खतरा है, सनातनी ने अपने ही घर में आरती की, तो बेटी के सामने खींचकर बीच सड़क पर पीटा, इतना रीट्वीट करें की बंगाल ही नहीं देश के हर व्यक्ति तक पहुंचे.]
The video has also been shared on Facebook.
Viral with a Muslim spin since 2017
The same clip was shared in April 2019 with the claim that a Brahmin was beaten in West Bengal and this is common in Muslim dominated areas.
“Muslims beating one Brahman in WB in front of his daughter. During Pooja in his house, the bell sound should not be heard by anybody. This is common in West Bengal in Muslim dominated areas. No media is covering the atrocities on Hindus. Whereas human rights wings are crying for shelter of Rohangya [Rohingya] Muslims in India,” was the caption used to share the video.
On Twitter, the same incident recorded from a different angle was in circulation.
Muslims beating one Brahman in WB in front of his daughter .
During Pooja in his house , the bell sound should not heard by any body. This is common in West Bengal in Muslim dominated areas.
No media is covering the atrocities on Hindus.Whereas human rights wings pic.twitter.com/FxH49K4XZQ— देशभक्त हिन्दू (@Sarvesh77479109) April 30, 2019
The identical video has been doing social media for the last four years.
It was also shared in 2018.
What is the truth?
The claim that a Brahmin was beaten by Muslims to stop him from praying is false. The message was debunked by the Kolkata police in a series of tweets when it was viral in 2017. According to the police’s statement, the man was a Hindu priest who allegedly molested a woman and was manhandled by her family as a consequence.
A video posted on Youtube two years ago shows moments before the priest was thrashed. Here, he can be seen attempting to allegedly molest the woman.
The viral video was debunked by The Quint and Boomlive in 2017.
A man was beaten by the family members of the woman he allegedly attempted to harass. A video of the incident was revived on social media with the false claim that members of the Muslim community attacked a Brahmin in West Bengal, thus, giving the incident a communal angle. If one carefully listens to the men conversing in the video, one of them can be heard saying in Bengali that the priest had misbehaved with his ‘bou ma’, which could either mean wife or daughter-in-law.
The upcoming elections in West Bengal have given rise to a deluge of misinformation mostly trying to paint the false picture that the state is unsafe for the Hindu community under the TMC government.
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