DHAKA, Sept 26, 2025 (BSS) - Fact-checking platform BanglaFact, operated by the Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB), has identified a misleading campaign on social media using old photographs of idol vandalism, claiming they represent recent events.

BanglaFact investigation team noted that the widely circulated images, which accompanied claims that idol vandalism had recently taken place in Joypurhat, are not recent but old.

Upon verification, the team confirmed that the three disputed pictures are indeed old, having been available on the internet since at least 2021. 

Two of the images were specifically confirmed to be connected to an incident of idol vandalism in the Shuktohar area of Joypurhat that occurred in September 2021, they added.

Through reverse image searching, the team identified that national daily reports, citing police and local sources, had previously documented that on the night of September 24, 2021, several idols were vandalized at the Shuktohar Madhyapara and Purvapara Sarbajanin Durga temples in Joypurhat Sadar upazila.

Police had subsequently detained one person in connection with that 2021 incident.

Officials have assured BanglaFact that no such new incident has occurred recently in the area.

After their investigation, BanglaFact concluded that the publicized claim is false and the pictures being circulated are old.