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Old Photo Of Monk Serving Foods To Muslims In West Bengal Shared As Victim Of Bangladesh Violence
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
India, 21 Oct 2021 10:54 AM GMT
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Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Ashoke Pandit, an Indian filmmaker, shared the photo saying, "This is Swami Nitai Das Prabhu who was killed in the attack on the ISKCON temple in Bangladesh last Saturday". The Logical Indian Fact Check team verifies the claim.
In Bangladesh, communal violence broke last week after an alleged incident of Hindus disrespecting the Quran during Navratri celebrations. Since then, several attacks on minority communities and their places of worship have been reported across the country. On 15 October, an attack on the ISKCON temple in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh was reported, resulting in two devotees' demise.
In this backdrop, a photo of a monk serving food to Muslims is shared, claiming the monk is Swami Nitai Das, one of the devotees killed during the attack on the ISKCON temple in the Noakhali district.
Ashoke Pandit, an Indian filmmaker, shared the photo on Twitter. He captioned it, "This is Swami Nitai Das Prabhu who was killed in the attack on the ISKCON temple in Bangladesh last Saturday. The Swami used to serve iftaar dinner to Muslims during Eid. Typically, some Muslim clerics like Pirzada Siddique in West Bengal have applauded the murder Shame."
Ram Niwass Yadav, an Indian politician associated with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), shared the photo on Facebook. He captioned in Hindi, ""सांप को दूध पिलाना" कहावत सुनी होगी आपने...अब देख लीजिए...ये है इस्कॉन मंदिर के स्वामी निताई दास रमजान में रोजा इफ्तारी करवाते हुए...बांग्लादेश मे कल इनकी भी हत्या कर दी गयी है।"
[English translation: You must have heard the proverb ′′ feeding milk to snake...Now see it...It is Nitai Das, the owner of ISKCON temple, serving Roza Iftari in Ramadan...He had also been murdered in Bangladesh yesterday.]
The photo is widespread on Facebook and Twitter.
Claim:
The photo shows Nitai Das, one of the devotees killed during the attack on the ISKCON temple in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The photo is old, clicked in 2016 at ISKCON temple in Mayapur village of West Bengal.
We conducted a Google search using specific keywords related to attacks on the ISKCON temple in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh. It led us to several media reports which covered the incident.
According to the ISKCON News, the devotees killed during the attack on 15 October were identified as Jatan Chandra Saha and Pranta Chandra Das. Their bodies were recovered from a pond the next day. The report mentioned that another devotee, Nimai Chandra Das, has sustained injuries and was hospitalised in critical condition.
ISKCON News does not mention the name Nitai Das anywhere in their report.
We conducted a Google reverse image search of the viral photo. It led us to a report by UCA News, published in 2016. It was titled, "Hindu group hosts fast-breaking event for Muslims". The report carried the same picture as their cover and captioned it, "A monk from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness offers sweetmeats to Muslims during Iftar at the Hindu group's temple in Mayapur on 22 June. (Photo by Raghu Nath)".
The report mentioned that a group called the Hare Krishna movement organised the iftar for Muslims. An excerpt from the report reads, "The Muslims also offered their evening prayers inside the temple complex of Chandroday Mandir, Mayapur, some 130 kilometres north of Kolkata".
To sum up, the photo of a monk serving food to the Muslims is widespread with a false claim. The picture is old, clicked in 2016 at ISKCON temple in Mayapur of West Bengal where a group Hare Krishna organised the iftar for Muslims. Also, the name of any devotee as Nitai Das getting killed in Bangladesh violence has not yet appeared in any media reports.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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