School fire video falsely shared as fire at Durga temple
A video has been circulating on Facebook with the claim that leaders of the ruling party set fire to several Hindu homes, including a Durga temple. However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the video does not show an incident at a temple or at any residence belonging to anyone from the Hindu community. It actually shows a fire at a primary school in Sunamganj.
On September 14, a 16-second video was posted from a Facebook profile named “Sanatan Dharma” with the caption, “The party leaders set fire to the Durga temple and 7 or 8 Hindu homes in the early hours of the morning and fled!” The video shows a building on fire and smoke billowing from it. A person in the video makes allegations against ruling-party leaders for setting the fire in a narration-style commentary. One commenter wrote, “This government is following the path of Yunus and is throwing Bangladesh into the gutter.” Another commented, “So this is the religious practice of Islam, burning down seven or eight homes. What kind of religion is this?” Until the publication of this report, the video had been viewed 75,000 times and shared 1,700 times.
A keyword search found a video posted on September 14 on a Facebook profile named Mdshakir Alom. Its caption read, “Nurnagar Government Primary School has caught fire in a very terrifying way.” The fire and the building structure shown in this video match those in the video circulating on Facebook.
Another video of the same incident was posted on September 13 from a Facebook profile named Md Kamran Ahmed. Its caption read, “No. 2 Bhatipara Union, village Nur Nagar, A primary school suddenly caught fire. Villagers are taking initiatives to bring the fire under control.” In the video filmed inside the building, the ground floor with exposed pillars is seen covered in black smoke.
For further information, Dismislab contacted Jyotirmoy Talukdar, headteacher of Nurnagar Government Primary School in Bhatipara Union of Derai upazila, Sunamganj. He said that the video was filmed at his school. Assistant teacher Saikat Talukdar also confirmed to Dismislab that the fire started on September 13 from jute sticks piled up on the ground floor of the building.
In other words, footage of a fire at a school in Sunamganj is being circulated with the claim that it shows fires set at a Durga temple and homes belonging to members of the Hindu community.
It is worth noting that false information has repeatedly been circulated from the Facebook profile named “Sanatan Dharma” with claims of minority persecution. Dismislab recently published reports debunking two such claims (1, 2).
