Incident of Vandalism of Hindu Idols in West Bengal Given False Communal Spin

The police clarified that the incident took place over personal dispute and doesn't have any communal angle to it.

An incident of Hindu idols being vandalised in Shantipur, West Bengal is being shared on social media with a false communal spin.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A set of photos showing damaged, broken idols of Hindu deities Saraswati and Kali are being shared on social media.

The claim: Sharing the photos, a section of social media users are implying that the idols were destroyed as "a direct attack on Hindu faith and the livelihood of artisans," in West Bengal's Shantipur.

• The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared this post on his X (formerly Twitter), calling the incident another one of "rising wave of anti-Hindu hatred."

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, there is no communal angle to the incident.

• West Bengal police have clarified that that two intoxicated men had vandalised the idol due to personal dispute.

How do we know?: A reverse image search on one of the images led us to a news report by Dainik Bhaskar, which said that the incident took place in Nadia district's Mathalgarh area in Shantipur on the intervening night between 5 and 6 January.

• Two locals reportedly got into an argument with potter Jayanta Das' son, after which the potter shut his shop. Due to the upcoming puja season, he stored some idols along the side of the road.

The report mentioned that the incident took place over a personal dispute.

(Source: Dainik Bhaskar/Screenshot)

The next morning, the idols were found to be broken and with CCTV footage, the two vandals were identified as brothers Ashit and Amit Dey.

The report quoted senior police officials saying that "There is no communal angle to the incident," and that the accused, who were reportedly intoxicated, vandalised the idols over personal dispute.

• Another report by The Times of India noted that in his complaint, potter Das had said that around 85 idols had been damaged, amounting to a loss of one lakh rupees.

• The police told TOI that "no political or religious atrocity" had been found during their investigation.

Police address claim: Taking to their X account, the West Bengal police said that certain quarters were making "mischievous efforts... to spread misinformation and communal disharmony" over the incident.

• They noted that the police had registered a case and were making "all-out efforts" to arrest the Dey brothers, adding that "Efforts to communalise this incident on social media will be sternly dealt with."

Conclusion: An incident of two men destroying idols over a personal dispute is being shared to falsely claim that the idols were vandalised to target the Hindu community.

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