Religious tensions ran high in Bangladesh in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, with Hindus targeted by attacks over the minority faith’s perceived support for her party. However, a video shared online does not show a Hindu temple vandalized in the Muslim-majority country, as social media reports claim. The fragment has been circulating since August 2021 in reports about a gang looting a temple in Pakistan.
“The fate of Hindu temples in Bangladesh. Where are international human rights and the Indian government?” read a Hindi language X post where the video was shared on December 8.
“Rohingyas and invaders from Bangladesh should be deported from India and all trade and cricket matches should be stopped.”
The post, which has been viewed more than 34,000 times, shows footage of a gang vandalizing a room decorated with Hindu gods.
Screenshot of the fake X-post, captured on December 12, 2024
The images circulated on X and Facebook after supporters of an arrested Hindu leader in Bangladesh clashed with security forces on November 29 (archived link).
Outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladesh flag during a rally and was denied bail, the Times of India reported (archived link).
Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority country since a student-led revolution forced longtime autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India in August.
The chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster was accompanied by a series of reprisals against Hindus – seen by some as disproportionate supporters of her government – and attacks on Muslim Sufi shrines by Islamist hardliners.
The government in neighboring India – a Hindu-majority country – also raised the alarm about the attacks.
However, the video shared online was filmed in Pakistan years before Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.
Looted temple
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video led to a report published by Pakistani newspaper Dawn on August 5, 2021 (archived link).
The article, which included a screenshot of the video and an X-post sharing the footage, is headlined: “Mafia loots temple after minor boy gets bail in desecration case.”
Hundreds of people attacked the Hindu temple in Bhong, a town in Pakistan’s Punjab province, after a local court granted bail to a nine-year-old Hindu boy accused of urinating in a seminary, the report said.
Below you will find the screenshot comparison from the falsely shared video (left) and a screenshot published in Dawn’s article (right):
Screenshot comparison of the mistakenly shared video (left) and a screenshot published in Dawn’s article (right)
The Times of India, Hindustan Times and India Today also published the images in reports on the attack (archived here, here and here).
Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the incident on X and said he had spoken to the provincial police chief to ensure the arrest of the perpetrators. He also said the government would restore the temple (archived link).
AFP has fact-checked a wave of misinformation around anti-Hindu attacks in Bangladesh following Hasina’s ouster, including images falsely shared such as a Hindu temple being set on fire, a Hindu woman protesting the violence and Muslim clerics praying in a Hindu temple.
