Several Indian accounts on Monday shared an image of a burning house and cricketer Liton Das, claiming that the Bangladeshi Hindu athlete’s home was burnt during anti-government protests. However, the house was actually of Bangladeshi politician and former cricketer Mashrafe Mortaza.

The unrest in Bangladesh began in July 2024 in the form of protests against civil service job quotas and then escalated into wider calls for former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to stand down. Hasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but was accused of rigging elections in January and then watched millions of people take to the streets over the past month demanding she step down.

More than 400 people died as security forces sought to quell the unrest, but the protests grew and Hasina finally fled Bangladesh aboard a helicopter on August 5, 2024, as the military turned against her.

On August 5, 2024, an Indian account shared an image of a burning house with a picture of Bangladeshi cricketer Das on social media platform X.

The caption of the post said, “Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer Liton Das’ house has been set on fire.”

The post was viewed 1.4 million times.

Another user, calling herself a “proud Indian” and “Dharmik” (righteous), shared the image as well with the caption: “He is Liton Das, a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a national hero of Bangladesh. His house was set on fire by Islamists. This is the condition of an elite Hindu of Bangladesh. Just imagine the condition of common Hindus.”

The post was viewed close to 470,000 times.

The same image was widely shared with similar captions by other Indian users, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, because it concerned violence against minorities amid the successful anti-government protests in Bangladesh that saw Hasina stepping down and also because many users pointed out in the comments to the viral posts that the house was not of Das.

A reverse image search conducted on the viral photograph of the burning house led to several articles from media outlets that reported the original incident, saying that the residence actually belonged to ex-Bangladeshi cricketer Mashrafe Mortaza.

Mortaza, the former cricket captain, turned politician in 2018 and served as the parliamentarian for the Narail-2 constituency. He is also a prominent figure in Hasina’s Awami League, having secured his parliamentary seat for the second consecutive term earlier in 2024.

United News of Bangladesh‘s article titled, “Mashrafe’s Narail home vandalised, torched“, said the incident occurred on August 5 when vandals burnt the lawmaker’s home.

Indian news outlets Firstpost and The Munsif Daily also reported on the development, both using the same image that was circulated online as being of Das’s house.

Therefore, the fact check determined that the claim regarding the burning of Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer Liton Das’s house amid protests against the government was misleading.

The house set on fire actually belonged to Muslim former athlete and lawmaker Mashrafe Mortaza.

The sharing of the image without mentioning this crucial context and instead associating it with an individual from Bangladesh’s minority Hindu community has the potential to misguide the public about the ground reality of what is happening in the country and whip up religious violence and incitement that could cause further tensions between religious communities amid an already tense environment.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP.