Reports of violence against Muslim communities following state elections in India’s West Bengal have been a catalyst for misinformation online. The latest includes a video circulating with a false claim that it shows Hindu extremists attacking a women’s Muslim school — known as a madrassa — which was shared tens of thousands of times. However, the video predates the elections and was actually taken in Yemen in 2024.
The 14-second video published on May 10, 2026 shows women and girls running in panic in front of a two-storey building and a man discussing the clip, saying: “Hindu extremists in India attack a women’s madrassa.”
The clip has been shared over 55,000 times with a caption that largely repeats the false claim.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on May 21, 2026, with a red X mark added by AFP
The video was shared elsewhere on Facebook with similar claims days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory in the West Bengal state elections on May 4, ending the 15-year rule of the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (archived link).
Supporters of the rival parties clashed after election results were announced, killing at least five people, including a close aide of the new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Local Indian media also reported that Muslims and their properties were targeted in post-election attacks (archived here and here).
But the circulating video is unrelated to the recent incidents and predates the election.
Old Yemen video
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a slightly longer clip shared in an Arabic-language X post on September 13, 2024 on the official account of the Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and the X post from 2024, with the red X added by AFP
It reads: “The terrorist Houthi militia affiliated with Iran has stormed and shut down a girls’ school in the Hamdan district of Sanaa Governorate, instilling fear and terror among the teaching staff and students.”
According to local media reports, the group attacked the girls’ school in Hamdan district, north of the capital Sanaa, to disrupt a celebratory event marking the anniversary of the September 26 revolution (archived here and here).
Images of the school on Google Maps also match the building seen in the false video (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and Google Maps image, with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP
According to UN reports, the crisis in Yemen, which worsened in 2014 after Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa, has been marked by complex political and military tensions (archived link).
AFP has debunked more misinformation around the West Bengal elections here and here.
