A video of police and security guards dragging away student protesters at Delhi University has been shared by Bangladeshi social media users who misleadingly claimed it showed Muslim women being beaten up by Hindu extremists in India. The claim circulated in the Muslim-majority country ahead of its neighbour’s six-week-long general election, with Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi widely expected to win a third term in office. It shows demonstrators being removed from near Delhi University’s library, where they were protesting against a citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims.

“Muslim Hijabi women were beaten up in India by cow urine-drinking extremist Hindu women,” read the Bengali-language caption of a video shared on Facebook on April 4, 2024.

The video shows a group of women wearing hijabs being hit and dragged away by Indian police and people wearing light-blue clothing.

It circulated ahead of general elections in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win a third term.

Modi’s muscular Hindu-first politics is a key part of his electoral appeal and his opponents accuse him of marginalising India’s 200 million Muslim population.

The country has a long and grim history of sectarian clashes between the Hindu majority and its biggest minority faith, but analysts warn increasingly available modern technology is being used to deliberately exploit divisions.

The same video racked up thousands of views elsewhere on Facebook in posts here and here that made similar claims.

Comments in the post suggested users were misled.

“Shame India, shame!” read one comment.

Another said: “They are torturing Muslims there while we are living in peace here.”

But the video does not show an attack by Hindu extremists, as the posts misleadingly claimed.

Anti-CAA protesters

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video led to the same video used in a post on Instagram on March 13 (archived link).

It was shared alongside two similar videos by the account DU Updates, which posts news about Delhi University.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video used in the misleading post (left) and the same video posted on Instagram (right):

The Instagram post reads: “Students of Delhi University, who were protesting the CAA, alleged that they were detained and their whereabouts are unknown. Over 60 students were picked up by the police following the protest organized by a student group in DU.”

The “CAA” is the Citizenship Amendment Act, which came into effect on March 12.

The contentious law makes it easier for religious minorities from three neighbouring countries to get Indian citizenship — but not if they are Muslim.

One of the other videos shared in the same Instagram post briefly shows the front of Delhi University’s library, and matches photos of the library shared on Google Maps (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the similar video shared on Instagram (left) and a photo of the Delhi University library shared on Google Maps (right):

India’s Hindustan Times newspaper reported that 55 Delhi University students were detained during the anti-CAA demonstration on March 13 (archived link).

The report quotes deputy police commissioner MK Meena as saying the students were removed from the university’s library.

It makes no mention of the demonstrators’ religion or if “Hindu extremists” were present.

A keyword search on Google for information about the individuals wearing light-blue clothing that were described as “Hindu extremists” in the misleading posts led to images of Delhi University security staff wearing similar clothing on Getty Images and India’s The Telegraph newspaper (archived links here and here).