The Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested a 38-year-old man for allegedly inciting communal violence, NDTV reported. The man had shared an image from a Bhojpuri film on social media that he claimed depicted what was truly happening in the West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas.
The Basirhat and Baduria regions in the districts have been hit by communal violence after a 17-year-old shared an allegedly derogatory post on Facebook about Prophet Mohammed on June 3.
Social media users and fact-checking websites such as Alt News pointed out that the still was taken from a Bhojpuri movie Aurat Khilona Nahi, which released in 2014.
In a series of tweets, the West Bengal Police asked people to not be influenced by fake messages or posts on social media.
“Some people are posting old videos of other countries/regions as incidents of West Bengal,” the police said. “This is highly condemnable. Please check facts with us. We appeal to all to not pay heed to these malicious videos aimed at creating mistrust among communities.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday had blamed two national-level television channels for showing “fake” videos and had said action would be taken against them. “Video clips of an incident in Comilla, Bangladesh, and a Bhojpuri film were being shown as if these incidents had taken place in Bengal,” the Trinamool Congress chief had alleged.
She had also blamed the Bharatiya Janta Party for “destroying the federal structure of the country with the sole aim of grabbing power” and congratulated the people of Baduria and Basirhat for “not falling into the BJP’s trap, in spite of provocations”.
Incidentally, Vijeta Malik, an official of the BJP’s Haryana unit, was among those who shared the image on social media, targeting the West Bengal government.
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