Video of Crowded Train Station is From 2018
The Claim
The video below shows a crowded train station in Calcutta during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The claim went viral in November 2020, with many social media users saying it shows a dangerous refusal to adhere to pandemic restriction guidelines.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that the video was first published online in 2018, long before the pandemic. We conducted reverse image searches of screenshots from the video and found it was posted by Neel Akash as early as September 23, 2018.
That video purports to depict a train station in Ranaghat, not Calcutta.
Further, the Eastern Railway, the railway depicted in the video, tweeted that the video is not recent.
India did ease coronavirus restrictions recently, but the viral video does not show a crowd during the pandemic
