Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
New Delhi: Soon after reports of violence in Bangladesh’s Rangpur on October 17, where homes belonging to several members of the Hindu community were attacked and at least 29 houses were torched, videos claiming to be from the district made their way to the internet. One of which was that of a Durga pandal burning, even as fire service officials were attempting to douse the flames. A fact check by Newschecker has revealed that the video is from Tripura in India and not from Bangladesh’s Rangpur.
You can find the archive link of the tweet here
The tweet, put out by @UnityCouncilBD has seen over 3,200 retweets and 4,000 likes. Newschecker had earlier fact-checked the handle and found it to be a fake handle. You can read more about it here.
Fact Check/Verification
To verify the veracity of the video, Newschecker first reached out to the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence of Bangladesh. Speaking to Newschecker, Mohammad Shah Jahan Sikder, Sr Staff Officer with the media cell of the department said that the video was not from Bangladesh. “These visuals are not from Bangladesh. This video is being falsely used in the context of ongoing violence to create panic among the Hindu community,” he said.
On a keyword search in Facebook, an article by a Tripura based news portal called Time8 Axom shows up, which reads “Puja Pandal and four shops gutted in Tripura”.
The image used in the article and one of the keyframes of the video match. Using this as a clue, we searched Facebook for posts with the location mentioned in the article, Maracherra Bazar.
Newschecker found a post by Facebook user Manisha Ghosh, who posted the same video on October 13, 2021, with the caption in Bengali that reads “Part of the market including the ashes of the horrific fire, including the Durga Puja mandapa of Maracherra Bazar. The accident happened on the night of the seventh.” The video has seen a total of 6,300 views and 303 likes and 132 shares.
Newschecker contacted Jyotish Ranjan Das, Divisional Fire Officer of Dhalai Division in Tripura, who confirmed that the video was from Tripura. “The report is false. It is a fire in a Durga Puja pandal in Tripura’s Dhalai district and not from Bangladesh as is being claimed,” he said.
Corroborating the same, Joy Bhattacharjee, a fireman working with the Kamalpur fire department said, “The video is from a fire in Kamalpur’s Maracherra Bazar that took place on the 13th of October. It happened at 2:42 in the morning, and some 4 shops in the neighbourhood were also caught in the fire. We believe a short circuit caused the fire.”
Bangladesh based fact-checking website Rumour Scanner and Indian fact-checking websites Alt News and BOOM Live have also verified the facts of the video and come to similar conclusions.
Conclusion
A viral video of a puja pandal burning, which was claimed to be from Rangpur in Bangladesh, is in fact from Dhalai in Tripura. The video was shared in a different context and hence partly false.
Result: Misplaced context
Our Sources
Govt sources
Social media posts
News portals
With inputs by Dil Afrose Jahan from Bangladesh
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
