Fact Check: Video of elderly woman hit by a political leader is not from Karnataka but Bangladesh

A video of an elderly woman being assaulted by a local political leader at an event is being shared on social media with a claim that a BJP leader in Karnataka resorted to the inhuman act.

The video has been shared on Twitter with the caption in Hindi that translates to, “This is the condition ahead of elections in Karnataka. The real side of BJP while the party speakers distribute clothes to the poor can be seen. You can understand after winning the election this kind of behaviuor with the poor is sad.”

Netizens claim that the video shows a woman being hit by a BJP member in Karnataka ahead of the upcoming elections.

FACT CHECK:

The claim is false.

We performed a reverse image search and found an article by Bangladesh’s daily Jugantor dated April 2, 2023 that covered the incident. The article states that the above mentioned incident took place in Bangladesh. It quotes Nazrul Islam, current district president of Awami League and Chairman of Zilla Parishad for Satkhira district, who clarified that the video viral on social media is from Bangladesh and quite old.

The article reported that on the occasion of Eid, multiple women were standing in queue to collect sarees during a drive in front of the residence of Mir Mostak Ahmed Ravi, Member of Parliament of Satkhira-2 Sadar Constituency.

The MP’s cousin, Mir Habibur Rahman Bittu, was distributing sarees during which he assaulted a sixty four-year old woman named Morjina Begum. She was allegedly hit by Bittu on her head thrice and later given the saree, during the drive. The cause of the alleged assault is still unknown.

Lanchit Morjina Begum said that the MP organises the programme every year during Ramadan. She was quoted saying that every year these saris and lungis are distributed by the MP's cousin Bittu, who misbehaves with people every year during distribution.

After the issue was brushed aside, the same night Municipal Awami League general secretary Shahadat Hossain announced constituting a committee through a press release The MP's cousin Mir Habibur Rahman Bittu was made the president of that committee.

This led to the video of the assault of the old woman go viral on social media. The video was posted by hyper local news outlet ‘Satkhira Bulletin’ of Bangladesh on March 20, 2023. The ticker of the news organization can be seen in the viral video.

The video reports on how supporters of the Awami League were disappointed after a person like Bittu was selected as member and secretary for Number 2 Ward under Satkhira Municipality, ahead of National Parliamentary elections.

We also found a video report by local outlet, Satkhira Tribune on March 31 where Morjina Begum shared her version about the incident.

Evidently, an old video from Bangladesh is falsely being shared to claim that a woman was hit by a BJP member in Karnataka.