Old Clip of Man Vandalising Idols of Hindu Deities Linked to Bangladesh Crisis

The video has been available since at least June 2023 and is unrelated to the recent violence in Bangladesh.

Fact-Check | The video is old and is being shared with a misleading context.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video which shows a man vandalising idols of Hindu deities is being shared on social media platforms with users linking it to the recent violence that broke out in Bangladesh.

What have users said?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared the video with a caption saying, "Hindu temples, Hindu people and Hindu business establishments are not safe in Bangladesh. Coming times may be more difficult for Bangladeshi Hindus. We have to seriously work on it. #SaveBangladeshiHindus."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The post had garnered over 47 thousand views on the platform. (More archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least June 2023 and is not related to the recent unrest that ensued in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's resignation.

How did we find that out?: Taking the help of Google Lens, we executed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral clip and found the same visuals uploaded on a verified YouTube account named 'Asad Noor'.

• The video was published on 23 June and its caption when translated to English said, "Mullah-Munshi and the government, together alone! || Asad Noor | 23 June 2023."

The video was posted on 23 June.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

• This video was also shared on a Facebook handle on 25 June 2023.

• Its caption in Bangla said, "A Muslim youth named Siddique vandalized the idol in Dhaka. This incident happened in Doha sub-district of Dhaka."

• While we could not independently verify the details of the video like its location and its context, it is clear that the video is old.

Recent reports on temples in Bangladesh: As per a report published in India Today, an ISKCON temple in Khulna division of Bangladesh was set on fire during the unrest.

• It mentioned that multiple Hindu temples across the country were targeted.

The video was published on 6 August.

(Source: India Today/Screenshot)

Conclusion: This video is old and is being falsely linked to the recent violence that happened in Bangladesh.

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