Bihar video shared to claim CCTV camera vandalism in Dhaka
A video has been spread on social media with the claim that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman installed CCTV cameras at intersections in residential areas across the capital to improve public safety, but members of a teen gang vandalised the cameras to avoid getting caught while committing crimes. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the viral video did not originate in Bangladesh, it actually shows an incident from Bihar, India.
The video was posted from a Facebook profile named “Sheikh Ahmed Liton” on August 1. The 34-second video shows a masked man repeatedly striking a CCTV camera installed at a traffic signal with a stick until it breaks. At the beginning of the audio, a man says, “Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman has installed CCTV cameras at every intersection of the major residential areas of Dhaka city and covered those areas with a layer of security. But some criminals know they cannot commit crimes because the CCTV cameras will catch them. That is why these gang members are smashing the CCTV cameras with sticks. Watch it with your own eyes.”
The video was also posted from several Facebook profiles, groups and pages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) with the same claim. The video was spread from an Instagram account too.
To verify the claim, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using several key frames from the video. The search found a video published on July 26 on the Instagram account of the India-based media outlet India Scope. Translated into English, the video’s title reads, “CCTV Cameras Vandalised During Violent Student Protest in Patna, Government Property Targeted | Watch.” The post says the video came from Patna, Bihar. It adds that protesters damaged CCTV cameras and other government property during a student protest held across Bihar. The visuals in the 30-second video exactly match the footage circulating with the false claim.
Further verification through relevant keyword searches led to detailed reports (1, 2, 3) published on July 26 by several India-based news outlets and social media accounts. According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, students observed a “Bihar Bandh” across the state on July 25 to protest the alleged leak of the NEET medical entrance examination question paper and to demand the resignation of former Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. During the protest, angry students vandalised roadside CCTV cameras in Patna, Bihar. The viral footage shows that incident.
Therefore, the footage circulated with the claim that it shows juvenile gang members vandalising CCTV cameras in Dhaka actually shows an incident from Patna, Bihar.
It is worth noting that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) started installing AI-powered cameras on a trial basis at different intersections in Dhaka from May 7 this year. However, no news reports were found regarding any incident ofl cameras being vandalised.
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.
