Fact Check: Muslim man attacks Hindu in West Bengal? No, here’s what happened
A video of a man attacking another with a sword, claiming to show a communal incident from West Bengal, is viral on social media.
By M Ramesh Naik
Claim:CCTV footage shows a Muslim man attacking a Hindu man with a sword in West Bengal.
Fact:The claim is false. The incident took place in Punjab’s Samrala. The attacker has been identified as Surinder Singh, and the victim as lawyer Kultar Singh. The case has no communal angle.
Hyderabad: A video showing a man attacking another with a sword is circulating on social media with the claim that the incident took place in West Bengal and that it was a communal attack involving a Muslim assailant and a Hindu victim.
An X user shared the video captioning, “An Is|amist in Bengal, India, attacked a Hindu man who was leaving for his 9 to 5 routine!” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is from Samrala in Punjab, not West Bengal, and the attacker is not a Muslim.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to multiple news reports about the incident.
According to The Tribune, dated August 13, the incident occurred in Samrala, Ludhiana district. The report identified the accused as Surinder Singh alias Billu, who allegedly attacked his neighbour, advocate Kultar Singh, with a sword following a dispute.
The Hindustan Times reported that Kultar’s family alleged the accused had been harassing them for the past few days.
Following the incident, the Samrala police registered a case under Sections 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 127(1) (wrongful confinement) and 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The accused was taken into custody.
We also found the video on News18 Punjab YouTube dated Aug 12, with the title, ‘Neighbour attacks lawyer with kirpan, mother and wife come to save him…’ and description stated, ‘Neighbour attacked lawyer with kirpan, did not spare mother and wife who came to save him, see pictures of the incident’
The viral video does not show a Muslim man attacking a Hindu man in West Bengal. It depicts a neighbourhood dispute in Punjab’s Samrala, where Surinder Singh attacked his neighbour Kultar Singh. The claim is false.
