Fact Check: Viral Video of Man Allegedly Beaten for Selling Bangladeshi Flag in West Bengal is Actually from Bangladesh
Hence, the claim is Misleading. A video from Bangladesh, showing an army personnel hitting a man selling the Bangladeshi national flag, has been falsely shared as an incident from West Bengal.
Claim :
A man was selling the Bangladeshi flag in West Bengal, and a BSF constable gave him the best treatment.Fact :
This clip is actually from Bangladesh. On 10 June, a flag seller was unintentionally struck by a soldier during a chaotic moment outside the Bangladesh National Stadium in Dhaka.
A Bangladeshi national was arrested at the Mahdipur Immigration Point in West Bengal’s Malda district for attempting to enter India using an Indian identity card. The accused, identified as Salim Sheikh (31) from Murshidabad, was found to be in possession of documents bearing dual identities.
According to police sources, a Bangladeshi ID card found during the inspection identified him as Mohammad Dilwar (30) from Rajshahi. Alongside this, officials recovered an Indian Aadhaar card, voter ID, passport, visa, and some Indian currency, suggesting he was trying to pass off as a local resident.
Sheikh was taken into custody by English Bazaar police and presented before the Malda District Court, which remanded him to six days of police custody. Senior officer Pradeep Kumar Yadav confirmed that a detailed investigation is underway.
Amid the incident, a video surfaced on social media claiming to show a Border Security Force (BSF) constable brutally beating a man—allegedly a flag seller—in West Bengal. Users alleged that the man was assaulted for selling the Bangladeshi flag in India.
One such post read, “Abdul selling the Bangladeshi flag in West Bengal... BSF constable gave him the best treatment,” and quickly went viral, garnering thousands of likes and views across platforms.
Here is the link to the claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading. The video in question is not from West Bengal but from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It captures an incident where Bangladesh Army personnel conducted a lathi charge to disperse a large crowd gathered outside the Bangabandhu National Stadium during a football match.
While investigating the incident, we found no evidence of any such event occurring in West Bengal recently. Had such an incident taken place, it would likely have been reported by the media.
To verify further, we contacted journalist Agnishwar Sardar from West Bengal. According to him, "No such incident has happened in West Bengal recently. If it had, we would have definitely reported it. The video appears unrelated to West Bengal."
Disclaimer: The following video contains scenes of violence that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
During our reverse image search, we came across a video uploaded on YouTube by the channel Dhaka Post, which has millions of subscribers.
The video was uploaded on June 12, 2025, and the channel is based in Bangladesh. Most of the content on Dhaka Post is related to events within Bangladesh, with only a few international stories.
The title of the video, originally in Bengali—"লাঠিচার্জের শিকার পতাকা বিক্রেতাকে লাখ টাকা উপহার সেনাবাহিনীর"—translates to:
"Army gifts flag seller, who was lathi-charged, with 10 lakh taka."
On comparing this YouTube video with the viral clip circulating on social media, we found that both videos are of the same incident and same date.
To further verify, we searched using relevant keywords and found that several other YouTube channels had also shared the same footage with similar captions and context.
The video links can be found here and here.
We also came across a report published by Kalbela on June 12, which provided further context to the incident.
According to the report, during the football match, a large number of enthusiastic spectators—many without tickets—had gathered outside the stadium entrance.
As the crowd grew impatient, several individuals ignored safety protocols and began forcefully pushing against the gate, resulting in a sudden rush and chaotic situation.
Amid the commotion, a military personnel unintentionally struck a flag vendor with a baton near the stadium premises. Following the incident, the Bangladesh Army issued an apology and offered the vendor one lakh taka as compensation.
Previously, PTI conducted a fact-check on this matter and reported that an unrelated video from Bangladesh was falsely circulated on social media. An unrelated video from Bangladesh was falsely shared on social media as one depicting an incident in India.
Hence, the claim is Misleading. A video from Bangladesh, showing an army personnel hitting a man selling the Bangladeshi national flag, has been falsely shared as an incident from West Bengal.
