Old video of Pakistani temple attack falsely linked to anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh

Religious tensions have soared in Bangladesh after the tumultuous ouster of independent leader Sheikh Hasina, with Hindus targeted for attacks based on what a minority of her party thinks. The video shared online, however, does not show a Hindu temple being vandalized in the Muslim-majority country, as social media said. This clip has been circulating since August 2021 in reports about a mob looting a temple in Pakistan.

“The plight of Bangladesh's Hindu temples. Where are the human rights of the world and the government of India?” read post in hindi language X shared video on 8 December.

“Rohingyas and Bangladeshi criminals should be expelled from India and all commercial sports and cricket should be stopped.”

The post, which has garnered more than 34,000 views, features photos of a mob destroys a room decorated with Hindu gods.

Screenshot of fake X post, taken on December 12, 2024

The footage was shared on X and Facebook after supporters of a jailed Hindu leader in Bangladesh clashed with security forces on November 29 (link saved).

Outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari has been arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally and denied bail, The Times of India reports (link archived).

Interfaith relations have been tumultuous in the Muslim-majority country since a student-led revolution forced longtime independent prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India in August.

The turmoil after Hasina's ouster saw a series of reprisals against Hindus — seen by some as disaffected supporters of her government — and attacks on Sufi Muslim shrines by Islamic extremists.

The government of neighboring India — a Hindu-majority nation — also raised the alarm about the attack.

The video shared online, however, was filmed in Pakistan years before Sheikh Hasina's ouster.

A looted temple

A reverse image search on Google using key frames from the video led to a report published by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn on August 5, 2021 (archived link).

The article, which includes a screenshot from the video and embeds X's post sharing the video, is titled: “Mob loots temple after minor boy gets bail in contempt case”.

Hundreds of people stormed a Hindu temple in Bhong, a city in Pakistan's Punjab province, after a local court granted bail to a nine-year-old Hindu boy accused of urinating in a seminary, according to a report.

Below is the screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and a screenshot published in Dawn's article (right):

The Times of India, Hindustan Times and India Today also published video reports on the attack (archived here, here and here).

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan condemned the X incident, saying he had spoken to the provincial police chief to ensure the arrest of the culprits. He also said that the government will restore the temple (archived link).

AFP has investigated a number of false claims surrounding the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh following Hasina's ouster, including images shared of a Hindu temple being burned, a Hindu woman protesting the violence and Muslim clerics praying in a Hindu temple.