Social media users have shared images and videos of a man crying while authorities seize his rickshaw, claiming it took place in India.
However, the incident actually took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh when rickshaw-puller Fazlur Rahman’s vehicle was seized during Dhaka South City Corporation’s drive to evict battery-powered rickshaws on 5 October.
CLAIM
Users shared the image with the caption, “The Law of this country is only for poor people..! (sic)”, tagging several Indian political leaders.
The claim was also shared with a video from the incident.
The Quint also received a query regarding this image on its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The incident actually took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh and not India as claimed.
A reverse image search led us to a photo-story by Bangladesh-based news site, bdnews24, dated 5 October 2020.
The image, clicked by photographer Asif Mahmud Ove, is captioned, “Rickshaw-puller Fazlur Rahman was seen crying in the capital’s Jigatala area after his vehicle was seized during DSCC’s eviction drive on Monday. Fazlur, who had lost his job amid the pandemic, said he bought the battery-powered rickshaw 15 days ago after borrowing Tk 80,000.”
You can also see the words “Dhaka South City” written on the bulldozer impounding the vehicle.
Further, we found the viral video on Bangladesh-based news outlet Jamuna TV’s YouTube channel. The channel’s boom mic is visible in the viral video as well.
The video was titled, “Now I will tie the rope around my neck; The cry of a rickshaw puller,” in Bangla.
The incident was also reported by bdnews24 on their YouTube channel.
Dhaka Tribune also reported that DSCC had ran an eviction drive for battery-powered rickshaws in the Jigtala area of Dhaka.
When his video went viral on social media, Bangladesh’s grocery retail chain Shwapno, helped the rickshaw puller by purchasing two rickshaws for him, which he’d use for starting home delivery services.
The incident from Bangladesh was falsely attributed to India by social media users.
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