HYDERABAD: The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal has announced stricter enforcement of the state’s existing cow slaughter laws.
According to a May 15 report in The Indian Express, authorities said cows and cows can only be slaughtered if they obtain a “fitness for slaughter” certificate from a civil servant or government veterinarian. Slaughtering in public places is also prohibited, and violations can result in legal action including fines and imprisonment.
What was the state’s order?
The state government has issued a notification stating that only animals above 14 years of age or permanently disabled animals are “fit” for slaughter.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra has moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the West Bengal government’s recent notification regulating cow slaughter ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
What is the claim about?
After the government passed the order, several reports surfaced of Hindu cattle farmers in West Bengal protesting against the guidelines. Quint’s article was titled “Bengal: Muslims become cow protectors, Hindu traders demand cow slaughter.”
They allegedly claimed that Muslims were not buying cows from Hindu traders because it is illegal to sell cows without certification.
What does the video show?
In a related video circulating online, Hindu TMC supporters in West Bengal criticize Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s decision to make slaughter of cows without certification illegal, and claim that Adhikari is saying that Muslims should be asked to buy cows from Hindus.
The video shows a cattle market where sellers are waiting with their cows. You can also see people walking through the market alongside waiting traders. In the background, a man holding a cow is being interviewed by a media member with a microphone. The logo on the video reads “North East Time 24.”
In the video, a man being interviewed, said to be a Hindu TMC supporter, can be heard saying in Bengali that they work hard and make a living by selling cows to Muslims during Qurbani Eid. He further added that he brought cows for sale but Muslims would not buy from him.
People who shared the video implied that the Hindu man was criticizing the Bharatiya Janata Party for not being able to sell cows for slaughter to Muslims.
User X shared the video and wrote, “Listen to this stupid TMC supporter Hindu. He says he has been working hard on raising cows for a year thinking he will get enough income by selling them in Bakrid, but Muslims won’t buy cows from us. CM @SuvenduWB should ask Muslims to buy cows from us. These Hindus are the worst cancer in our society.” (Archived)
fact check
NewsMeter found this claim to be false. An AI-generated video was falsely circulated showing TMC supporters criticizing the BJP’s decision on cow slaughter in West Bengal.
The video was shared after reports emerged from across the state that Muslims were not buying cows from Hindu traders.
Video analysis
We reviewed the video multiple times and found some anomalies in the generation AI. Although the cattle market background and base video appear authentic, multiple inconsistencies were found in the subject’s mouth area and audio track.
There is noticeable blurring and smearing around the lips and jawline, creating a mask-like effect that prevents the facial skin from naturally deforming during speech.
The people walking behind the man with the camera move like robots, keeping an equal distance from each other. They all look the same, just with basic clothing differences.
The audio and visuals also seem out of sync. Some Bengali sounds do not match the corresponding lip movements, especially sounds that require the lips to close completely. The speech pattern itself sounds unusually rhythmic and robotic, lacking the natural pauses, breathing changes, and emotional fluctuations you would expect in a noisy outdoor environment.
AI content detection tool
When we ran the video through our AI video detection tool Hive Moderation, it detected that the video was generated using AI 99.9% of the time.
