Lighthouse Journalism came across a video where a person was seen destroying an idol inside a temple. It was claimed in the post that the video is from the recent unrest in Bangladesh. During the investigation we found that the video is from 2023.
Claim:
X user Baba Banaras shared the video on his profile along with the misleading claim.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other users too are sharing the video with the same claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by uploading the video in the InVid tool to obtain screengrabs.
This led us to a story published on hinduexistence.org.
The story was published on July 22, 2023.
The report mentioned: A 36-year-old Muslim man vandalized the idols of deities at a Hindu temple in Bangladesh’s Brahmanbaria district. The incident took place on Thursday night, causing an uproar among the local Hindu community at a large scale.
The report further said: Brahmanbaria Police Superintendent, Mohammad Shakhawat Hossain, confirmed Khalil Mia’s arrest but stated that the motive behind his act remains undisclosed. It is yet to be determined why he resorted to such a deplorable act.
We found several news reports about the same.
The report said: Investigations have revealed that Khalil Mia had come to visit his sister’s house in Niamatpur village when the unfortunate incident occurred. A quarrel with some local residents apparently escalated, leading him to vandalise not just one, but five to six idols within the Durga temple.
We also found a few video reports about the same.
Conclusion: Viral video of a man vandalizing the idols of deities at a Hindu temple in Bangladesh is from 2023. The video is not from recent unrest in Bangladesh. Viral claim is misleading.
