Rumour

A Twitter user Chowkidar Nila Kallyani tweeted a video to show the situation of Hindus in Bengal. Her tweet reads:

This is the position of Hindus in West Bengal. This Hindu boy hoisted saffron flag atop his house. Forwarded by LT Col Dilip Kumar Havanur. The day is not too far every Hindu crucified like this boy. Share it maximum to reach every Hindu.

In the video, the victim is seen tied to a tree with an orange shirt while the accused take turns to flog and beat him. One of the accused is seen twisting the victim’s arm as he pleads to be let off.

You can watch the video here:

This video is being shared on social media by many users and one of our readers asked us to verify the authenticity. You can see all such posts here.

Our Investigation

We did a keyword search on Google and found that the video is an old one and was debunked by many fact checkers like SmHoaxslayer in last year.

The video was viral on Facebook and Whatsapp last year.

As per a report by Indian Express in which screenshot of video was used, the incident happened in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh in March 2018.

The victim was identified as Shamshad, who was tied to a tree in a deserted field and brutally flogged, beaten and abused by six youths, who also recorded the incident on their mobile phones.

All six people were arrested by the Police. The prime accused was identified as Nasir.

As per UP Police Shamshad had lent Rs 1,500 to Nasir two months ago, which the latter had not returned. The duo had quarrelled over the issue and Shamshad had also beaten Nasir for not returning the money. Nasir avenged this beating and recorded the video along with his friends.

The incident was also reported by ANI. The tweet by ANI reads: 

Deoria: Miscreants tied youth to a tree & thrashed him after he asked them for the money lent by him. Video of the incident went viral, Police took cognizance & arrested one accused, say, 'Main accused arrested, 4 others in video have been identified & are absconding

Fact

The viral video is from Deoria, Uttar Pradesh. The victim and accused had fight for money. The victim Shamshad had also beaten accused Nasir for not returning the money. Nasir avenged this beating and recorded the video along with his friends.

The claim that a man was beaten in West Bengal for hoisting saffron flag on his house is false.