BBC Report on Northeast Delhi Riots Wrongly Shared as ‘Violence in Tripura'

The BBC report is from 2020 and covers the communal riots that erupted across northeast Delhi.

The BBC report discusses Delhi police's role in the 2020 north east Delhi riots.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

A nearly three-minute long video, which shows shots of arson, destruction and people speaking about communal violence, is being widely shared across social media platforms to claim that it is from Tripura.

While sharing the video, users praised BBC for reporting on the communal violence in the state.

However, we found that the video is a BBC report from 2020. Towards the end of the clip, the reporter can be heard speaking about Delhi and Delhi police. The Quint was also able to corroborate the video's events with its own reports and footage related to the violence across northeast Delhi.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with claims in Hindi and English. The claims state that it shows violence in Tripura, adding that the BBC reported on events that the Indian media wouldn't.

An archived version of this tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The clip is being widely shared on Facebook, where users have shared a longer version of the video.

The video was widely shared on Facebook.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

More claims across social media can be seen here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

About a minute and ten seconds into the video, a group of policemen can be seen assaulting a man, later identified as Faizan, followed by visuals of injured men being forced to sing India's national anthem.

This portion showing bloodied men on the ground had gone viral across the internet when visuals of the riots emerged. The Quint had also carried multiple reports on the clip.

This part of the clip had gone viral when visuals emerged in 2020.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

At the 2-minutes-28-seconds mark in the videos shared on Facebook, the reporter is heard speaking about the Delhi Police not responding to allegations, and continues to speak about Delhi.

At the end of the video, the reporter identifies herself as BBC News reporter Yogita Limaye, in Delhi.

Using relevant keywords on Google, we came across a tweet from the reporter's verified Twitter account.

Here, she shared BBC's report, noting that Amnesty International's report into the Delhi Police's role mirrored "a lot of what the BBC found."

The video also has signboards with various names throughout the video. At the beginning, a shop named 'Aggarwal Standard Sweets' is visible, next to another one named 'Krishna Electrical'.

We looked up the shops names, and found a 'Krishna Electrical' located in Bhajanpura in northeast Delhi.

Both images show the same shop's board.

(Source: Facebook/Google Maps/Altered by The Quint)

We then looked at the distance between this shop and 'Aggarwal Standard Sweets', which Google Maps noted as a one-minute distance on foot.

Additionally, another part of the video was filmed in front of a police outpost in 'Khajoori Khas', which is also in northeast Delhi.

The reporter is standing in front of the Khajoori Khas police outpost.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

WHAT HAPPENED IN DELHI?

Violence erupted across northeast Delhi on 24 February, where over 50 people were killed as communal tensions escalated.

The Quint had reported that the first clashes took place between anti-CAA and pro-CAA protesters in Delhi's Maujpur after BJP MLA Kapil Mishra threatened to 'clear the blockade' (of protesters) if the Delhi Police did not.

Mishra's statement, followed by sloganeering by Hindutva groups, was widely considered to be the catalyst behind the riots.

As per BBC's report, the police used excessive force against Muslims and beat 23-year-old Faizan to death.

Clearly, social media users have wrongly shared a 2020 BBC report on Delhi police's role in the violence that erupted cross the northeast regions of the city as a report on the communal violence in Tripura.

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