These photos have circulated in media reports about separate attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

This article is more than one year old.
Published on March 18, 2020 at 07:55
2 min read
By AFP India

Two images have been shared hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter alongside claims that they show a Hindu temple that was desecrated by Rohingya Muslims in West Bengal, a state in eastern India. The claim is false; the images have circulated in separate reports about attacks against Hindus in the neighboring country of Bangladesh.

The photos, which show a charred structure and vandalized Hindu statue, were published on Facebook here on February 15, 2020. The post has been shared more than 5,400 times.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:

The post’s Hindi-language caption translates to English as: “This is the state of Hindu temples. Rohingya Muslims in Bengal are making the lives of Hindus very difficult. You have to think, Mamata Banerjee or Narendra Modi. Glory to India, glory to Hindutva.”

The post names two prominent Indian politicians: Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, and Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister. It also references Hindutva, which is a far-right Hindu political movement advocating Hindu nationalism and the establishment of a Hindu state.

The photos were also shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here, here and here; and on Twitter here and here.

However, the claim is false.

A reverse image search found that the photo of a defaced Hindu statue was published here on January 13, 2019, in an Indian news report about a vandalized temple in Jessore, a district in southwestern Bangladesh.

The article notes that the “200-year old Temple is the pride of the community” and “was ransacked by a preparator named Yasin.” It also quotes Gobinda Chandra, the secretary-general of the National Hindu Grand Alliance Bangladesh, who confirmed and condemned the attack.

Bangladesh police chief Tajul Islam confirmed to AFP on the telephone on March 17, 2020, about the incident.

“The incident happened in 2019 in a village named Mahakal which is under Abhaynagar’s jurisdiction in Bangladesh,” he told AFP.

The image of a charred structure was published here on December 28, 2018, in a report by bdnews24.com, a Bangladeshi news website, about an arson attack on homes that belonged to Hindus in Thakurgaon, a district in northwestern Bangladesh.

One of the photo also has a watermark that says “bdnews24.com”.

Below is a comparison of the photos in the misleading post (L) and the images published in the media reports (R):

Comparison of the photos in the misleading post (L) and the images published in the media reports (R)

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These photos have circulated in media reports about separate attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

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