Mamata unfazed after Delhi police claim video she posted was fabricated

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared unfazed on Tuesday (July 29, 2025) in the face of a Delhi Police claim that a video she shared about harassment of migrant workers was fabricated. The CM has urged the migrant family to return to the State.

“They (the woman and her child) were taken to various police stations, just as I had said yesterday. They were threatened. We want them to come back, and whoever is speaking the truth and who is lying will be proved eventually,” Ms. Banerjee said at an event in Birbhum district.

The Trinamool Congress chairperson had on July 27 shared a 46 second video on social media where a child is seen. “Atrocious!! Terrible!! See how Delhi police brutally beat up a kid and his mother, members of a migrant family from Malda’s Chanchal. See how even a child is not spared from the cruelty of violence in the regime of linguistic terror unleashed by the BJP against the Bengalis! Where are they taking our country now?” she wrote on social media. The post and the video have not been removed by the Chief Minister.

A senior Delhi police official said on July 28 that after an investigation it was found that the video is baseless and fabricated. “This video has been deliberately circulated on social media to tarnish the image of the Delhi Police,” the official said. According to the police, the woman who lives in the Malda district of West Bengal made this baseless video and shared it with a relative who is a political worker.

Harassment and torture

The development comes at a time when hundreds of migrant workers from West Bengal have alleged harassment and torture by police in different states, including Delhi, who suspect that they are Bangladeshi nationals.

Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, targeted the Chief Minister and said she should receive “international awards for spreading misinformation.” Mr. Adhikari warned that more such videos were likely to surface.

Seven migrant workers hailing from Harishchandrapur in Malda who were detained in Gurugram, Haryana, on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals have been released and are on their way to their home towns. Hundreds of migrant workers have already returned to the State after being detained in different states.

The Trinamool Congress leadership, led by the Chief Minister, has launched a “language movement” to protest against harassment of Bengali speaking migrants.