A distressing video of a local henchman publicly flogging a couple in Chopra, West Bengal, is being shared with a false claim that the incident is from Bangladesh.
BOOM found that the viral video is from Chopra, Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal, where a local goon Tajmul Haque beat up a couple accusing them of having an extra marital affair. We also found that the incident happened in June 2024.
Muhammad Yunus took charge as the chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government on August 5, 2024. Communal tensions have been on the rise in the country with the government recently disclosing that 88 incidents of communal violence targeting the minorities, mainly Hindus, were reported since Hasina was ousted from Dhaka on August 5.
In the video, a man is seen holding a bamboo stick and repeatedly flogging a man and a woman.
The video was shared on X by the Brahmanbarai unit of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party with the caption, "This is the name of new Bangladesh! This is the so-called 2nd freedom! A militant regime is now running in Bangladesh under the leadership of Mohammad Yunus."
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FACT-CHECK: West Bengal Incident Viral As Bangladesh
We ran a keyword search on Google for the term "couple beaten in west bengal" and found several news reports matching visuals from the viral video. According to the reports, the incident took place in June 2024, in Chopra, Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal.
News reports identified the man assaulting the couple in the video as one Tajmul Haque, a henchman from the area who goes by his alias ‘JCB’. Haque is reported to have ties with the local Trinamool Congress (TMC) unit.
According to the police, the couple was beaten on orders of a kangaroo court on allegations that they were involved in an extramarital affair. Haque was arrested on June 30, 2024 and remanded to five days in police custody by the local court.
The visuals in the news reports on the incident match with the viral video.
The video and details of the incident were viral in July 2024 with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the CPI(M) accusing the ruling TMC of deterioration of law and order in the state. Allegations were also made against Haque that he was close to the local TMC MLA Hamidul Rahaman.
According to a report, Haque would convene insaf sabhas (justice meets) on different issues, to "deal with people who would violate his rulings. If they did not fall in line, punishment like flogging was meted out to them.'
