Recently, a video showing an elderly man being publicly beaten has been circulated on social media with the claim that it is a recent incident from Bangladesh, under captions such as “A question to the people of Bangladesh — is this how a country is run👇” and various other similar titles.
See the posts shared on Facebook promoting this claim here and here.
Fact-check
Rumor Scanner Team’s investigation reveals that the video showing the elderly man being publicly beaten is not from any incident in Bangladesh. In fact, the footage is from an incident that took place in Andhra Pradesh, India, in 2021, and is now being falsely circulated in the context of recent events.
At the start of the investigation, a reverse image search of frames from the viral video led to an article published on November 24, 2021, by Indian news outlet India Today titled “TDP worker thrashed on camera, party blames ruling YSRCP.” The images used in that report match the visuals currently being circulated.
The report states that at the time, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had strongly criticized the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh. TDP claimed that the man who was assaulted was their party worker and that YSRCP members were responsible for the attack.
Further relevant keyword searches led to a post from the same date by an Indian journalist named Ashish on X (formerly Twitter), which also shared the same video. In his caption, Ashish wrote:
“A video has surfaced showing a man named Saeeda being brutally beaten by Shiva Reddy and others in Andhra Pradesh, India. The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has alleged that the attackers are affiliated with the YSRCP. However, police have stated that the incident stemmed from a land dispute. All accused are currently absconding.”
Following this lead, the Rumor Scanner Team also found a post from the official X account of the Palnadu District Police, Andhra Pradesh. Reviewing their statement, it was confirmed that an FIR had been registered at the time under FIR No. 651/21 regarding the attack on Saeeda near the Tummalacheruvu Toll Plaza.
In other words, this video is clearly not from any incident that occurred in Bangladesh.
Conclusion
A video from 2021 showing an elderly man being publicly assaulted in Andhra Pradesh, India, is being falsely presented on social media as a recent event from Bangladesh, which is false.
