PTI Fact Check: Video of elderly man beaten up in Bangladesh shared on social media with false claim

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Days after an elderly man was allegedly assaulted by his co-passengers in a train in Maharashtra's Nashik district on the suspicion of carrying beef, a clip was shared on social media with users falsely claiming it was a fresh attack on another Muslim man in the state.

The PTI Fact Check Desk found in its investigation that the video was from Bangladesh and the elderly man in the clip was a freedom fighter, with that country's media saying he was beaten up by the son of a local politician.

A Facebook user shared the video with the hashtag "Islamophobia in India".

"The matter of the elderly man in the train in Maharashtra had not even cooled down yet and this second video is coming out in which a man from a particular community is beating up a Muslim elderly man badly? "Now does it not hurt to see such videos because now we keep watching them? The beard of a Muslim elder was torn, he was slapped and his cap was removed from his head," the user claimed.

To verify the viral claim, PTI's Fact Check Desk reverse-searched the keyframes of the viral video. The search results led the desk to an extended version of the video, uploaded on YouTube on September 8 by 'Jamuna TV', a reputed Bangladeshi news channel.

"In a video that has gone viral on social media, Barguna's controversial freedom fighter commander Abdur Rashid can be seen being publicly insulted by Shaun Molla, son of Barguna District BNP's former president Farooq Molla," read an English translation of the description of the video, originally in Bangla.

"When Abdur Rashid wanted to enter the DC office around 11.30 am, Shaon Molla blocked the way in front of the DC office and assaulted him and said that he is a fake freedom fighter, dacoit, usurper. MP Shambhu Babu is doing a lot of things and made him a fake freedom fighter," it said.

'Dhaka Post' also covered the incident and stated that on September 8, 2024, in Barguna, Shaun Molla, the son of former district president of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Farooq Molla, beat up an elderly man named Alhaj Mohammad Abdur Rashid Mia, a former freedom fighter commander.

PTI Fact Check Desk's investigation has made it clear that this post going viral on social media has been shared with a false claim. Read the full factcheck report here -- https://bit.ly/3B6is5l For verification or truth of any claim viral on social media, contact PTI Fact Check Desk's WhatsApp number +91-8130503759. PTI ABG NSD NSD