A video of children packed in a truck in Maharashtra is circulating on social media with a false claim that it shows Rohingya Muslim children rescued from Maharashtra's Kolhapur while in transit.
The viral claims further state that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been orchestrating the infiltration of Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh to India.
BOOM found that the video is from 2023 when 63 children were deboarding a truck in Kolhapur, Maharashtra after they returned from their vatcation. The children studied at a madrasa in Ajara, Kolhapur. According to reports, they were from the border areas of Bihar and West Bengal and had gone to their villages for their summer holidays. After the vacation was over, they came back to Kolhapur by train and were traveling back to their madrasa in a truck.
The video shows minor boys deboarding a truck in the presence of police.
The video was shared on X with the caption, "A truck carrying Rohingya Muslims was caught in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Mamata Banerjee is bringing them from Bangladesh and filling the entire country. When will we Hindus wake up? The country is in great danger. Be careful Hindu brothers."
See the post here, click here for an archive.
The video is viral on Facebook with the same caption.
See post here and click here for an archive.
Fact Check: Viral video is from 2023
BOOM ran a reverse image search on one of the keyframes of the viral video which led us to a news report by TV9 Bharatvarsh from May 18, 2023.
In its report TV9 Bharatvarsh stated that 63 children were found inside a truck in Kolhapur. All these children were brought from the border areas of West Bengal and Bihar. Initial investigation revealed that they studied in a nearby madrasa. The children had gone back to their respective villages during summer vacation. After spending the holidays, they first reached the railway station by train and in order to reach the madrasa from there, the children were loaded inside the back of a truck.
The Children Found In The Truck Are Not Rohingya Muslims
According to the report, a few Hindu organisations suspected the presence of the children inside the truck and informed the police. The police in their investigation found that most of the children were from Bengal and Bihar. The police had also summoned the Maulana of the madrasa.
While providing the full details of the children, the Maulana informed that they studied in his madrasa and they had gone to their respective villages for summer vacation. The children returned to Kolhapur by train and from the railway station, the children were picked up by the truck which brought them back to the madrasa.
The report also quoted the then Deputy SP of Kolhapur, Mangesh Chavan confirming that the children studied in a madrasa in Kolhapur and had returned from their native villages after spending the summer vacation.
We also found other news outlets like India TV, Zee News and Dainik Divya Marathi reporting about same incident. All these articles stated that the children were residents of the border areas of Bihar and West Bengal, who studied at the madrasa located in Ajara, Kolhapur. They were being brought to the madrasa from Kolhapur by a truck.
According to IANS TV the police suspected it to be a case of child trafficking. However, investigation revealed that these 63 children had come from Bihar and West Bengal to receive religious education from a madrasa in Maharashtra. The video report also contains the statement of the then Deputy Superintendent of Police Mangesh Chavan.