Does This Video Show Bangladeshi Immigrants Fleeing West Bengal Due to SIR? No!

The video is from the Shyama Kali Puja at the Shikarpur village in Nadia, West Bengal.

The viral post claims that the clip shows illegal immigrants in West Bengal fleeing towards Bangladesh because they fear SIR.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video is circulating on social media showing a group of people walking through what appears to be a border area.

Posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, state that this is the “rush of Bangladeshis” returning to Bangladesh after the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was announced on 4 November 2025.

• SIR is the revision of electoral rolls across 12 states and federally administered regions, including West Bengal.

• For the revision, booth-level polling officers will visit households across towns and villages to collect personal identity details and voter card numbers.

What’s the claim?: The post claims that the clip shows illegal immigrants in West Bengal are fleeing towards Bangladesh because they fear SIR.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of the similar posts can be found here and here.)

What's the truth?: The claim is false.

• The video is from Shikarpur village in West Bengal's Nadia district, which borders Bangladesh.

• The video shows scenes from the famous Shyama Kali Puja, held at the border check-post gate that is opened every year for the immersion of the idol in the Hili River, a branch of the Jalangi River.

What we found: We ran keyframes of the viral clip through Google’s reverse image search and found another video of the same scene.

• A video filmed by a woman from a similar angle posted on Facebook matches the location and people visible in the viral post.

The facebooks post of the woman matches the viral claim. 

(Source: Facebooks/ Altered by The Quint)

• Her post helped identify the location as Shikarpur in Nadia district, near the India–Bangladesh border.

• During this festival, the border gate opens for immersion of the idol in the Hili River.

• Recent reports indicate some recent return migration of undocumented Bangladeshis at the Hakimpur–Tarali outpost due to the fear of SIR, as covered by The Economic Times but the viral clip is not related to these movements.

Conclusion: The video does not show illegal immigrants fleeing to Bangladesh fearing Special Intensive Revision.

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