Is Indian Army entering Bangladesh in support of PM Hasina to crush student unrest? Fact Check

As Bangladesh student protests against reservation in civil services led to severe disruption of normal life in the country, several posts and claims have been making the rounds on social media. One such post showing images of Indian Army vehicles, claimed that the neighbouring country’s army is entering Bangladesh at the request of PM Sheikh Hasina.

BD Updates
بھارتی فوج کی ایک کمپنی مغربی بنگال سے بنگلہ دیش میں داخل ہو رہی ہے.
حسینہ حکومت نے کرفیو نافذ کر دیا اور احتجاج کو کچلنے کے لیے بھارت سے مدد بھی مانگی.
خون کی پیاسی ہندوتوا حکومت مسلمانوں کو قتل کرے گی اور حسینہ کو اقتدار میں رکھے گی.
pic.twitter.com/wbJgKZqhyW

— Ishfaq Shah🇵🇰 (@ishfaaqshaah) July 20, 2024

When translated, the Urdu post reads in English: “A company of Indian army moving into Bangladesh from West Bengal. Hassina (sic) regime has imposed a curfew and called in the military and also sought help from India to crush the protests with fire power. Blood thirsty Hindutava (sic) regime will kill Muslims & keep Hassina in power.” The post was shared on X by a Pakistan-based user.

Similar claims can be seen shared here and here.

FACT-CHECK

Since the issue is sensitive, Digiteye India took it up for fact-checking. As for the Indian government, there is no such move to send army into Bangladesh, nor did the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party extend any support to the Hasina government to control the student unrest in Bangladesh, which is its internal matter.

Secondly, we checked some key frames of the video showing Army trucks moving on a road. A lake and some high-rise buildings are visible in the image which were checked on Google Reverse Image Search. The results show that in the background is Shaheed Squadron Leader Rizwan Lake near Tejgaon Airport in Dhaka, which is a Bangladesh Air Force base. The picture was used by Kashmir Reader on July 21, 2024 while reporting the return of Indian students from riot-hit Bangladesh. It clearly states that the Bangladesh army is moving its tanks on Dhaka streets, not Indian tanks.

The same visual was also shared on Facebook and Reddit, confirming that the visual is of an airbase inside Bangladesh, not India as claimed.

While the second image matches with the airbase inside Bangladesh, the first one, however, shows an Indian army truck moving the road. A quick search of the image on Google Reverse Image Search showed that it was used on Facebook on June 23, 2022. The vehicle image was used on media by several publications to denote military trucks designed by automotive manufacturer Ashok Leyland on Kashmir border, not Bangladesh.

Hence, both images in the claim are falsely related as India has not moved its army into Bangladesh as claimed in the post.

Claim: A company of Indian army moving into Bangladesh from West Bengal to crush student unrest.

Conclusion: Misrepresentation. Unrelated visuals used to claim that Indian army is moving into Bangladesh.

Rating: Misrepresentation —