Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on social media platforms, especially Facebook. It was claimed, along with the video, that a man was selling Bangladesh flags on the streets of India. After spotting him, a BSF soldier beat him. The incident was also allegedly claimed to be from Uttar Pradesh.
During the investigation we found that the video was from Bangladesh and not India. The viral claim is misleading.
Claim:
Facebook user Rahul Premraaj Bhosale shared a video with a misleading claim in Marathi on Facebook.
Other users are also sharing the video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by uploading the video to the InVid tool. We then ran a reverse image search on the keyframes and found a video uploaded on a YouTube channel that had similar visuals to the viral video.
We found that the video was sourced from “Dhaka Post.” Dhaka Post is a Bangla and English language online news portal in Bangladesh.
This information led us to the video uploaded by Dhaka Post on their YouTube channel seven days ago.
The description said (translation): Lathi-charged flag seller gifted lakhs of taka by the army
We found the video report about the same on several other news media organisations’ social media channels.
We found a few news reports about the same.
The news report stated that during the Bangladesh vs Singapore match on June 10, chaos broke out outside the National Stadium as ticketless fans tried to force entry. To control the situation, the army resorted to a lathicharge. In the process, a flag seller was accidentally struck. The army later expressed regret, located the man, and gave him Tk 1 lakh as compensation on June 11. Disciplinary action is being taken against the responsible personnel. The army emphasized its commitment to public welfare and maintaining order.
Conclusion: The incident involving a flag seller being beaten by an army personnel occurred in Bangladesh, not India. Therefore, the viral claim suggesting it took place in India is misleading.
