Video of India temple fire shared as incident in Jashore
A video was circulated on Facebook with claims that Islamist militants set fire to a Shyama Puja (Kali Puja) pavilion at Kalir Bazar in Jashore district of Bangladesh. However, Dismislab’s verification found that the video is not from Bangladesh, rather it shows a fire at a Kali Puja pavilion in West Bengal, India.
On November 8, the video was posted on Facebook with the claim that, “Islamic jihadists have set fire to the Shyama Puja (Kali Puja) pavilion at Kalir Bazar in Jashore district of Bangladesh.” The video shows a Puja pavilion engulfed in flames. The words “Jasora Kalibazar” were visible in front of the pavilion.
Several other Facebook posts circulated with the same claim (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11).
A reverse image search conducted to verify the video led to a report published on November 7 by Indian media outlet Ei Samay. Titled “Massive Fire Destroys Kali Puja Pavilion in Panskura Hours Before Inauguration,” the report contains images that match scenes from the video circulated on Facebook.
According to the report, a fire broke out at a Kali Puja pavilion in Jasora Kali Bazar, under Panskura police station in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, India, on Saturday, November 7. The pavilion was destroyed by fire just hours before its inauguration. A fire engine arrived at the scene and brought the blaze under control. A preliminary investigation by the fire department suggested that a short circuit may have caused the fire. However, other possible causes were also being examined.
Reports on the same incident were also found in other media outlets. Bangladeshi news outlet Channel 24 also published a report on the incident titled “A Massive Kali Puja Pavilion Destroyed by Fire Hours Before Inauguration.”
The images published in these reports match scenes from the video circulated on Facebook. In addition, the words “Jasora Kalibazar” are visible in front of the pavilion in the video, matching the name of Jasora Kali Bazar in Purba Medinipur, as mentioned in the reports.
Therefore, the video is not from Jashore, Bangladesh. It shows a fire at a Kali Puja pavilion in Jasora Kali Bazar in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India.
