Fact Check: Does viral image show Rabindranath Tagore’s statue being vandalized in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh is facing major unrest as its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fled the country.

Against this background, an image of Rabindranath Tagore’s bust has gone viral on social media, claiming that his statue was also demolished in Bangladesh.

The post insinuates that after the unrest, Muslims in Bangladesh are demolishing Rabindranath Tagore’s statue as he was a Hindu.

A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Ravindranath Tagore statue demolished in Bangladesh. He wrote their national anthem.”

Similar posts can be seen here and here.

SouthCheck found the claim to be misleading. We found that the image is of 2023, when a bust of Rabindranath Tagore which was made by the students of Dhaka University was found in the garbage.

On doing a Google Reverse Image Search, we found that the same image was published by The Hindustan Times on February 19, 2023. The story associated with the image suggested that the students of Dhaka University's Fine Arts Faculty had installed a 19-and-a-half-foot-high sculpture of Rabindranath Tagore on the campus. The idol's head went missing later and was later found in the garbage.

The same image was also published by another website, Tripura India. The report suggested that the dismantled head was found by some passersby at the premises of the ongoing 'Amar Ekushe' Book FairPune Mirror had also reported about the incident.

Pune Mirror had also reported about the incident.

Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is unrelated to the current unrest in Bangladesh.