Old Video Passed off as Recent Visuals of ‘Rohingyas Entering West Bengal'

The video dates back to 2015 and reportedly shows people illegally entering into West Bengal during Milan Mela.

Fact-Check | The video is old and is being falsely shared as recent.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing people crossing barbed wires and fences is being shared to claim that it shows recent visuals of Rohingyas from Bangladesh entering West Bengal.

What have users said?: Those sharing the video have said, "Bangladeshi Rohingya Ilegal inter West Bengal India. Rohingyas. #WestBengal (sic)."

You can view an archive of the post here.

(Source: X/(formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, the video had over 27 thousand views on the platform. (More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The video could be traced back to 2015 and reportedly shows people illegally entering into West Bengal from Bangladesh during Milan Mela.

How did we find that out?: A keyword search on YouTube led us to the same video uploaded on an unverified channel 'Biswajit Sarkar'.

• The video was published on 21 May 2015 and its title said, "Illegal entry from bangladesh to india at Milan mela in West Bengal Uttar Dinajpur (sic)."

• According to its description, the video was taken on 15 April 2015 in West Bengal's Dinajpur.

Comparing the visuals: When we compared visuals from the viral video to several keyframes from the YouTube clip, we found that both of them are the same.

(Swipe right to view all comparisons.)

A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.

A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.

About Milan Mela: According to a report published in ETV Bharat, Milan Mela is an annual fair where people India and Bangladesh exchange gifts on the occasion of Chaitra Sankranti.

• Team WebQoof found similar videos on YouTube that showed visuals from the fair. You can view them here, here, and here.

• It should be noted that we could not independently verify the location, context, or the identity of the people seen in the viral video.

Conclusion: This video of people crossing fences and barbed wires dates back to 2015 and is not recent as claimed.

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