The Kolkata Police on Saturday exposed as fake a video posted on Twitter showing a Hindu priest allegedly being beaten up during Navratri. A Twitter user shared a video with the comment, “This brahmin’s Puja bell sounds during this navaratri disturbed those Muslims in a Muslim majority area in West Bengal!”, DNA reported.
The video was shared widely, with some users tagging the Kolkata Police, asking them to verify the post. The police found the video was of a priest being manhandled by the family of a girl he had allegedly molested last month.
“This is a wrong and mischievous post,” the Kolkata Police said in a tweet, and clarified that an FIR had been filed against the man on August 31 this year.
The post, which has been taken down, comes as the West Bengal government ordered all Durga Puja organisers to ask for permission if they wanted to immerse idols on Muharram, October 1. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s orders came a day after the Calcutta High Court revoked her earlier diktat restricting the timings of Durga idol immersions on Muharram. Banerjee wanted the restrictions in place because she feared clashes between crowds participating in Muharram processions organised to mark the Muslim period of mourning, and Hindus immersing idols of the goddess.
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