An old video of a bike rally in Odisha turning violent is being peddled with a false and communal claim that it shows an attack on Hindutva supporters for carrying out a bike rally with saffron flags in West Bengal.
BOOM found that the video is from 2023 when a clash took place in Odisha's Sambalpur district during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.
The 21-second footage shows several motorcycles fitted with saffron flags parked along a road, with a few individuals seen hurling stones at each other.
A verified X handle, @Sudhir_mish, shared the video with a Hindi caption that reads, "'Khub Khela Hobe' See how such “treatment” is done with “saffron bike rally” under Mamata Bano’s rule?"
(Original Text in Hindi: 'खूब खेला होबे' देखिए ममता बानो के राज में “भगवा बाइक रैली” के साथ ऐसा “सलूक” किया जाता है?)
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Another verified X account, @ajaychauhan41, previously fact checked by BOOM several times for spreading misinformation, also shared the video with a similar misleading caption.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM went through the comments on those posts and noticed that one user mentioned that the video is old and from Sambalpur in Odisha, not West Bengal as claimed.
Taking a cue, we ran a related keyword search on X and found a post from August 2023 mentioning the video to be from Odisha's Sambalpur.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post also mentioned that the footage shows a clash that occurred during a Hanuman Jayanti rally in April 2023.
Following that lead, we came across several news reports from Odisha-based media outlets covering the violence that occurred during that period. These news bulletins carried similar visuals of unrest and stated that several individuals were detained for questioning regarding the incident.
One such report aired by Kalinga TV on April 12, 2023, can be seen below.
A report by NDTV on April 16, 2023, stated that the Odisha Police had arrested 79 people for their alleged participation in the violence that erupted in Sambalpur city during the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. The report further mentioned that the area witnessed both a curfew and an internet suspension following the incident.
