Video claiming arrest of imams in West Bengal shows different Gujarat incident
A video has been circulating on Facebook with the claim that, following instructions from West Bengal opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, authorities had taken away imams who had led Jummah prayers. However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the incident actually took place in Gujarat. It shows scenes following the arrest of eight people over alleged links to the banned organization Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The video was posted on Facebook by a page named Jatir dulabhai 420 (nation’s brother-in-law 420). In the post, published on August 23, a person is heard saying, “In West Bengal, India, on the instructions of Suvendu Adhikari, the imams who led Jummah prayer have been taken away by Suvendu Adhikari’s administration. How many more Muslims will be persecuted?” As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 1.3 million times, while the post had received more than 33,000 reactions. It has been shared more than 25,000 times.
Still images were extracted from several keyframes of the video and subjected to a reverse image search. This led to a report published on July 3 on the YouTube channel of the news outlet ETV Telangana.
The scenes in this video report were found visually similar to those in the video circulating on Facebook. The report covered an operation by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). It said that eight people had been arrested over alleged links to the Pakistan-based banned terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Investigators claimed that the accused were attempting to establish a terrorist network in Gujarat.
The report further stated that, in the coordinated operation, seven people were detained in Gujarat and one in the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh. Cases were filed against them under anti-terrorism laws, and the investigation is ongoing to identify additional people allegedly associated with the accused.
Multiple news reports (1, 2) were found through searches using relevant keywords. The images used in the ANI report match scenes from the video in circulation. The report stated that eight people were arrested in a Gujarat ATS operation over alleged links to Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Hindu reported that eight people were detained in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Moreover, no reports were found in any established news outlet about imams who had led Friday prayers being detained in West Bengal.
Therefore, the video circulated with the claim that imams who had led Friday prayers in West Bengal were taken away is false.
