Fact Check:Viral video of scuffle over burqa in Bangladesh is scripted

Hyderabad: A video showing a heated argument between a bus conductor and a Hindu female passenger over not wearing a burqa while traveling in the month of Ramadan is being widely circulated on social media. Users claim that the video is from Bangladesh.

Similar posts can be seen here and here.

The video is being shared with the caption, “In Bangladesh during Ramadan, a Muslim bus conductor did not allow a Hindu woman to board the bus and forcefully threw her out because she was a Hindu and not wearing a burqa. After all, why is the world silent on the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh? In the last 10 years, more than 2000 Hindu temples were demolished in Bangladesh and about 5000 Hindus were massacred. But why is the world speaking on Gaza, silent on the oppression and genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh? When Bangladesh was formed in 1971, there were 25% Hindus. Today only 7% of Hindus are left in Bangladesh. but the world is silent.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the video is scripted and doesn't show a real incident.

We started our investigation by performing a keyword search to find relevant media reports on the incident, but could not find the visuals anywhere.

Moving further, we performed a reverse image search, taking the keyframes from the viral video, and found the visuals on a Facebook page with a cover picture mentioning ‘Valo 24’ named ‘Carton Show’ with over 123K followers. The Facebook page is marked as a 'video creator' with multiple religion-oriented videos with the same actors as seen in the viral video. This indicates that the viral video does not show a real incident but a scripted one.

For further clarity, here is the snap from the viral video and another such video from the actors operating the Facebook page Carton Show.

Lastly, we found the YouTube channel of the same video creators. According to the ‘About section’ of the channel, the actors are operating from Kolkata, not Bangladesh.

The Description reads, “This is an educational short film, Exhortational short film, Social short film. love Kolkata channel uploads all educational short films of our ongoing life happenings. All our stories are fictional. So if our story matches someone's life. Then we apologize to them. All our stories are created to entertain you. If you get some entertainment from our story. Then making our dramas will be worthwhile. And if you like our plays. Then definitely _ Like / Comment / Share & Subscribe to our Love Kolkata channel. thank you.”

Hence, it is evident that the video does not show a real incident from Bangladesh. It is a scripted video made by Kolkata-based actors.