Fact Check: West Bengal polls-CRPF lathi-charges Mamata supporters? No, video is from Bangladesh<h-iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="314" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1376100440986074%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"/>

Hyderabad: According to a news report by The Economic Times dated April 9, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the deployment of 150 additional Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and state police companies in West Bengal for free and fair Assembly elections.

Ahead of the polls, a video circulating on social media claims to show Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel allegedly taking action against supporters of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The viral clip shows armed personnel beating a group of people with sticks. It appears they were trying to disperse the crowd.

One user

on X and wrote, "Where have all those people gone now who were saying that no one can control the religious fanatics of TMC in Bengal? Come now and see, those fanatics whom Mamata's police weren't stopping have been turned into drums by the CRPF. And that Mamata, who had kidnapped the CBI, doesn't even have the status to give a glare to the CRPF." (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. A video from Bangladesh showing their Army lathi-charging people during the national elections was falsely linked to the West Bengal Assembly polls.

Analysis of the video

We conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video and found that it dates back to February 12. The video was originally posted by Bangladeshi media outlet Jamuna TV.

The caption of the video suggested that the Army lathi-charged voters after they tried to capture a polling booth in Brahmanbaria during the national elections.

Another Bangladeshi media outlet, United News of Bangladesh, published the video on YouTube on February 12.

According to the description, the video was captured during the 13th National Parliamentary Elections when tensions broke out in the Brahmanbaria constituency. Miscreants attempted to create unrest at some polling stations, after which the Army carried out a lathi charge to bring the situation under control.

We could not find any credible news reports of the CRPF specifically lathi-charging supporters of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.

Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.