Video of Durga Puja pandal vandalised in Bangladesh shared as West Bengal

A video of a mob vandalizing a pandal is viral on social media. It is being claimed that Muslims in West Bengal demolished a Durga Puja pandal.

Sharing this video on Twitter, a user wrote, “Shantidoots (pejorative term for Muslims) destroying Durga Puja pandal in Bengal yesterday.”

We received a request to verify the visuals on the Alt News mobile application.

Fact-check

Contrary to the claims being made on social media, this clip is not from West Bengal, but Bangladesh. We also could not find any reports to corroborate that a pandal was vandalized during the Durga Puja festivities in West Bengal. It is noteworthy that Durga Puja celebrations in Bangladesh sparked communal violence targeting the minority Hindu community.

We performed a keyword search on Twitter and found many tweets where users claimed this video is from Noakhali in Bangladesh. A user from Bangladesh had shared this video on October 15 as Noakhali.

BBC aired several videos of the clashes in Bangladesh in a video report, including the one in question. Apart from this, TV9 Bharatvarsh and Aaj Tak also aired the visuals.

A Facebook user had shared the video on October 15. The accompanying post stated that there was a ‘terrible situation” in Noakhali where a temple was burned down. The pandal seen in the video is located near the Sri Sri Radhakrishna Gaur Nityananda Temple at Noakhali.

Another Twitter user posted some pictures claiming they depicted Trishul Durga Puja Pandal. In these pictures, the scene behind the pandal matches the visuals seen in the viral video.

#SaveBangladeshiHindus#UN#UNJRC#SlowHinduGenocideinBangladesh
Where are the Champions of the Human Rights 😪 Noakhali, Chaumahani, college road, Trishul Durga Puja MANDIR has been fallen by Muslims gangs. 15/10/2021. The temple completely vandalised. Nothing else. pic.twitter.com/ASh88pOKEJ

— Pandit Pradip Chandra (पण्डित प्रदीप चन्द्र) (@PradipChandra7) October 17, 2021

Bangladesh unit of Boomlive spoke with the representatives of Bijaya Temple and Radhakrishna Gaur Temple. They informed that the incident took place at a Durga Puja pandal in Chowmuhani, Noakhali.

In sum, a video of an incident of a group of people vandalising a pandal during Durga Puja festivities in Bangladesh is falsely being shared as West Bengal.