Video from India circulated claiming there was massive crowd at funeral of Chhatra League leader's father
A video has circulated on Facebook claiming that a massive crowd gathered for the funeral of the father of SM Zakir Hossain, former general secretary of the banned organization Bangladesh Chhatra League. However, Dismislab’s fact-check has found that the scenes in the video are from Bhopal, the capital of India’s Madhya Pradesh.
An 11-second video was posted on October 5 from a Facebook profile named Shreepur Pouro Awami Swechchhasebak League. The video’s description read, “Massive crowd at the funeral of SM Zakir Hossain, former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s father — soaked in the love of thousands of people, he took his final leave. May Allah grant him Jannatul Ferdous, the highest station of paradise, Amin.”
As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 74,000 times and shared approximately 300 times. In the comments, one person wrote, “Who says Awami League doesn’t exist — the country belongs to Awami League.” Another wrote, “Sheikh Hasina’s government is needed again and again. Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.”
A reverse image search using key frames from the video found the same footage published on YouTube. The text “Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi Bhopal, MP” appears in English at the top of the video. The scenes at the 1st and 14th seconds of this video match exactly with the recently circulated video. Checking the video’s description section reveals that it was posted on September 17. However, according to information on Zakir Hossain’s verified Facebook page, his father’s funeral took place on October 5, the same day his father died.
A key-frame search found a photo published on September 16 from the official X account of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The structures of several buildings in this photo fully match the scenes in the recently circulated video. In both the photo and the video, structures colored red, orange, white, and blue, respectively, can be seen beside the same partially constructed building.
Through key-frame and keyword searches, several photos of a rally at the same location were found on the verified Facebook page of the AIMIM’s president, Asaduddin Owaisi. The Facebook post reveals that these are photos from a public rally held at Central Library Ground in Bhopal, organized against the UCC (Uniform Civil Code) that was introduced in Madhya Pradesh.
In other words, the video is not of the funeral of SM Zakir Hossain’s father. The video was already present on social media before his death. Furthermore, the scene is not from Bangladesh — it is a video from Bhopal, India.
All social media captions, quotations, and news excerpts in this article have been translated into English from the languages in which they were originally posted or published.
