Misinformation spread in India about communal violence in Bangladesh

Following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina from the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh on August 5th, amid the quota reform movement, reports of unrest emerged from various parts of the country, including attacks on places of worship belonging to religious minorities. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported that in 29 districts, Hindu homes, businesses, and temples were subjected to attacks, vandalism, and looting. According to a report by the Daily Prothom Alo, incidents of violence against minority communities were recorded in at least 12 districts. The violence involved the destruction of temples, homes, and shops belonging to minority communities. These events in Bangladesh have also gained attention on social media in India, where it has been found that several old photos and videos are being circulated in connection with these incidents. Dismislab identified six claims that provided misinformation about the contemporary events.

A video was posted on the ‘Daily Latest Updates’ account on X (formerly Twitter), claiming an attack on the Nabagraha Temple in Chittagong. The video shows a fire burning beside a temple and uses the hashtags #AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus and #SaveBangladeshiHindus, implying that Hindus were under attack. According to information from X, the account is operated from India. Upon investigation, Dismislab found a related post by a Facebook user, who asserted that the claim of an attack on the Nabagraha Temple was propaganda.

During the investigation, Dismislab identified a related post by a Facebook user who dismissed the reported attack on the Nabagraha Temple as mere propaganda. When reached for comment, the user confirmed to Dismislab that no such incident had occurred at the Nabagraha Temple near Laldighi in Chittagong. The user also provided Dismislab with pictures of the undamaged temple, confirming that the temple’s caretaker, Swapan Das, had also verified that the temple was unharmed.

The same video was broadcast on India’s Republic TV. On August 6th, Republic Bangla’s official YouTube channel published a video titled “Attack on Nabagraha Temple near Laldighi in Chittagong #shorts,” which falsely claimed that the Nabagraha Temple in Chittagong had been attacked.

Another video claiming that Hindu-owned shops were set on fire was shared on social media platform X. The video shows a shop engulfed in flames with people attempting to salvage goods from the fire. The video, posted on August 7th, included multiple hashtags, such as #AllEyesOnBangladeshiHindus, which have gained traction following recent events in Bangladesh. According to X, this account is also operated from India. The video was also aired by the Indian media outlet Sudarshan News, which portrayed it as an attack on Hindus.

Upon verification, it was found that the event depicted in the video is not recent. The original footage dates back to a fire incident in July of this year, where 15 shops were burned in Moju Chowdhury Hat, Lakshmipur District. While the exact cause of the fire remains unknown, it is confirmed that the incident did not occur after Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and was not an act of communal violence.

The same two videos were also disseminated by another account on X named “Voice of Bangladeshi Hindus,” which gave a location in Bangladesh. This account has previously been noted for spreading disinformation regarding the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh. Several fact-checking reports have been published addressing the spread of misinformation from this account (1, 2, 3).

A post from an X account claimed that the house of Bangladeshi cricketer Liton Das was set on fire, alleging that it was done by Islamists in Bangladesh. Upon investigation, it was found that this account is also operated from India, and the burning house shown in the post does not belong to Liton Das. In reality, following Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, protesters set fire to the house of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the former Member of Parliament for the Narail-2 constituency, also a former captain of the national cricket team of Bangladesh. The image in the post is of Mashrafe’s house, not Liton Das’s.

In addition to the incident involving the house fire, false images have also been circulated on X, claiming that rapes have occurred. One image shows a man lying on a bed with others standing around him. The upper part of the man’s body is unclothed, and much of this area has been blurred with lines. According to information from X, this account is also operated from India. The post with this image claimed that Hindu women in Bangladesh were being subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence due to the anti-government protests. However, a 2023 report by Indian fact-checking organization AltNews revealed that this same image was previously spread on social media as evidence of the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. The image is not from Bangladesh. The original video is from an incident in Bangalore, India.

A claim was spread on the X account ‘Baba Banaras’ alleging that a Bangladeshi Hindu man was killed and hanged from a sculpture. According to X, the account is operated from India. The post claimed that Jamaat-e-Islami militants had murdered a Hindu in this manner. However, a report by Dismislab reveals that the body shown in the associated video does not belong to a Hindu individual. The deceased is Shahidul Islam Hiron, the General Secretary of the Sadar Upazila Awami League and Chairman of the 9th Porahati Union in Sadar Upazila, Jhenaidah District. India Today, a fact-checking organization, also reported on this video. Their report confirmed that the viral video does not show an elderly Hindu man being beaten and hanged, but rather depicts Shahidul Islam Hiran, a Muslim Awami League leader from Jhenaidah, Bangladesh.

The same X account made another post claiming, “Big news from Bangladesh! Attacks on Hindus have started all over the country! Hindus are being targeted all over Bangladesh! Muslim protesters are entering Hindu houses and vandalizing them. Muslim radicals are also setting fire to Hindu temples. Many temples including ISKCON and Kali temple were set on fire. So far 500 have died and thousands have been injured.” The post was accompanied by three images. One of these images is from the quota reform movement, showing clashes between protesters and police or ruling party supporters. Another image, however, dates back to 2021, when various parts of Bangladesh saw violent protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That image is from those clashes, not a recent event. The third image, showing a burning temple, is also not related to any recent incidents. It dates back to April of this year when there were reports of a fire at the Sarbojanin Kali Temple in Panchpalli village, Madhukhali, Faridpur. In that incident, two construction workers were beaten to death by locals under suspicion of involvement in the fire. This widely discussed event occurred before the start of the quota reform movement and is not a recent incident. The image of the Kali temple used in the post is from that April incident.

A study by Saeed Al-Zaman, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Jahangirnagar University, on religious misinformation in Bangladesh reveals that 69.3% of users tend to believe false information, while only 25.9% can identify and reject it. Nearly half of the users (48.21%) concomitantly engage in extremist rhetoric, express negative reactions, and believe in misinformation. The study further suggests that violence influenced by religious misinformation may have stronger political connections than religious ones.