Amit Malviya shares Bangladesh candle-light vigil video as R G Kar protest in Kolkata

by Priyanka Jha

A video recorded by a drone is circulating on social media purportedly depicting a protest demanding justice for the August 9 rape and murder at Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital. In the video, the patriotic Bengali song “Dhana Dhanyo Pushpe Bhora,” written by Dwijendralal Roy, plays in the background. It is being claimed that a large candle-light march was carried out in Kolkata, with people coming out en masse for justice in the case. Debajit Sarkar, affiliated with the ABVP, shared the video with a similar claim.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared the video, making a similar claim, though he later deleted his tweet. However, an archived version can still be viewed here. (Archived link)

BJP spokesperson Pratyush Kanth also shared this video. (Archived link)

Several Facebook users echoed the same claim while sharing the video, reinforcing the narrative that it was part of the protest in Kolkata.

Fact Check

We saw that several social media users had commented saying that the video was from Bangladesh. Keeping this in mind, we performed keyword searches. We found the same video posted by a Bangladeshi user on YouTube on August 11, 2024. According to its caption, a candle-light demonstration was held at Uttara to pay tribute to the martyrs. Uttara is a neighbourhood adjacent to Dhaka.

Further searches revealed the same video posted on Facebook on August 9, where it was also described as a tribute to martyrs at a congregation at Uttara. This timeline is important. The R G Kar incident occurred on August 9, meaning the video could not be connected to a protest in Kolkata. The footage has been online since the same day the Kolkata incident occurred, suggesting there is no link between the two.

On August 9, another video of a candle march was also posted on X along with this video. A Bangladeshi user shared this and wrote, “Candlelight vigil and national anthem ceremony today at Uttara Friend’s Club as the whole community came together to remember the martyrs.”

The tribute event was also covered by Bangladeshi news channels on August 9. Through additional keyword searches, Alt News found a Facebook post dated August 8, announcing the candlelight vigil that would take place on August 9 at Uttara Friends Club. The location and details matched the viral video, confirming its origin.

To sum up, a viral video showing scenes from a candlelight vigil in Bangladesh was falsely circulated as a protest against the RG Kar incident in Kolkata. 

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About the Author

She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018.