Fact Check: Viral image of desecration is from 2016 and not part of recent Bangladesh incident
Amid the violence that took place in Bangladesh following social media rumors of desecration of the holy text at a religious gathering in Comilla
By Tejal Sinha Published on 18 Oct 2021 2:00 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Amid the violence that took place in Bangladesh following social media rumors of desecration of the holy text at a religious gathering in Comilla, an image is widely being shared on social media which shows bundles of pages being scattered on the floor.
Sharing this image, social media users are claiming that this is how people from a community had desecrated the holy text in a religious place.
Fact Check
The claim made through the viral post is misleading.
NewsMeter performed a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to a post on Facebook that was shared in 2016. The post had shared a similar picture.
According to the post, "Superintendent of Police Mohammad Shah Abid Hossain from Comilla had visited the spot in the afternoon. According to locals and various responsible sources, unidentified miscreants unlocked the main door of the worship place of Sadar union in Brahmanpara upazila of the district late on Tuesday night. Later, four windows of the mosque were vandalized, several rails to hold the holy text were vandalized, 25 to 30 Holy Qur'an Sharifs were torn and excrement was left near the arch of the mosque."
After the matter got spread on social media in 2019 as well, a press note was published from the official Facebook page of Bangladesh Police under the headline "The incident of destruction of a holy book in a religious place at Brahmanpara in Comilla in 2016". The press note read, "The incident of the mentioned headline was published on social media on October 19, 2016. There was a case in that incident, the number of which is 11/216, the date is 19/10/2018. The accused in the case was arrested by the police at the earliest and produced in court. After proper investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against the accused in this case, the number of which is 212, dated 30/11/2018. The case is pending in the court."
According to a news report published on the website Jago News 24, "The Bangladesh Police has made a special request to all to help the police in maintaining law and order and maintaining social stability without spreading any rumors and without listening to any rumors. Police advice in this case, call the nearest police or 999 to verify the truth of any incident."
The fact check team lastly found a post on Facebook by BD Fact Check on October 20, 2019 that stated that the incident is of 2016 and the accused is not a Hindu but a Muslim.
According to the post, on October 17, 2016, a person with a mental illness named Jahangir Alam broke the lock of a mosque in Brahmanpara, Comilla, tore up some of the holy texts in the religious place, and defecated there. Since no one was present there at that time, the worshipers saw the incident the next morning. Later, the accused's involvement was caught in the investigation.
It is therefore evident that the claim made through the viral post is misleading as the incident is of 2016 and the accused was not a Hindu but a person with a mental illness named Jahangir Alam.
