Madhya Pradesh footage circulated to falsely claim Muslim student abduction in West Bengal

A video recently spread on Facebook with the claim that 20-25 Hindu youths publicly kidnapped a muslim college student in Howrah, district of West Bengal, India. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the incident did not take place in West Bengal, nor does it have any connection with communal violence. 

Several news reports show that the video actually shows an abduction in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, India. On July 7, a Hindu woman was forcibly taken away on a motorcycle by her husband.

The video was posted on a Facebook page on July 11. The 27-second video shows several people dragging a woman in public and forcing her onto a motorcycle before leaving the scene. The caption reads, “Once again, in broad daylight in India, 20-25 Hindu youths took away Asma Khatun, a college student from Howrah, West Bengal. Under Suvendu’s government, they have become so fearless that they no longer fear the law. This brutal scene is unbearable to watch. Out of fear for their lives, none of the Muslims nearby came forward. Where will this brutality end?” 

Until the publication of this report, users had reacted to the video at least 1,400 times. The post had received 951 shares. An analysis of the comments shows that several users believed the claim. One user wrote, “Blind followers, don’t commit such cruelty.”

Several Facebook profiles, pages and groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) also shared the video with the same claim.

To verify the claim, Dismislab conducted reverse image searches using several key frames from the video. The search found reports (1, 2, 3) published by several Indian media outlets. According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, the incident took place in Indrapur village under Rajpur tehsil of Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh. On July 7, a woman’s husband, along with several companions, forcibly took her away on a motorcycle from a field near her parental home. The video used in the reports exactly matches the viral video.

The reports further state that, under the local tribal custom known as “Beja,” the family of the accused, Hukum Rawat, had paid around Rs200,000 to the woman’s family for marriage. It was alleged that despite accepting the money, the woman’s family did not send her to Hukum’s house. As a result, on July 7, Hukum Rawat and his associates forcibly took the woman away on a motorcycle.

Further verification through relevant keyword searches led Dismislab to a fact-check report published by Aaj Tak. The report says that Aaj Tak talked to the local police, the concerned reporter and members of the victim’s family as part of its verification. The news outlet later confirmed that both the victim and the accused belong to the Hindu community. The victim’s brother also confirmed that their family follows the Hindu religion.

Therefore, the viral video does not show the abduction of a Muslim college student in Howrah district of West Bengal, nor does it have any connection with communal violence. In reality, the video shows a Hindu woman being forcibly taken away in Madhya Pradesh, India, but it has circulated with the false claim that it shows the abduction of a Muslim college student in West Bengal.