Recently, an image showing a group of female students around a teacher has been circulated, alleging that Gautam Chandra Pal, a teacher from Azimpur Government College, was compelled to resign by students and the committee because he belonged to the Hindu minority community. However, D-Intent Data has found that the claims made by social media users are not true.
The claims circulated by propagandists
Several users, influencers and propagandists have shared the image and made false communal claims.
Sharing the image on X (Formerly Twitter), propagandist account @ajaychauhan41 wrote. Gautam Chandra Pal, a teacher of Azimpur Government College, has been forced to resign by the students and the committee. He has won the best chemistry teacher award. He was forced to resign because he belonged to the minority Hindu community.
Another propaganda account @RadharamnDas has also shared the image and wrote. Hundreds of HINDU government officials are being threatened & forced to resign in Bangladesh. Latest victim is Gautam Chandra Pal from Azimpur Government College. He was awarded the best Chemistry Teacher in Bangladesh & now Muslim students forced him to resign.
Several other users, influencers and propagandists have also shared the image and made similar claims. Their posts can be seen here, @VoiceofHindu71, @MithilaWaala, @jpsin1
The truth behind the claims, Fact Check
As soon as the posts containing the image and claims came to our notice, we conducted research and analysis of the entire incident and found that the video was unrelated to religious persecution or religion-based discrimination.
To verify the claims made by the users. We performed a relevant keyword search on Google Lens which led us to a YouTube video regarding the incident. According to the YouTube video, students were protesting against some of the school teachers at Azimpur Government College, and the female students at Azimpur Government College were protesting against Gitanjali Barua, Gautam Chandra Pal, Mohammad Hossain, and Shahanaz over unresolved complaints about irregularities. Mohammad Hossain and Shahanaz have already resigned, and the protest continues against Gautam Chandra Pal. Notably, there are other Hindu teachers, at the same school who have not faced similar protests or targeting.
According to one of his previous students, Gautam Chandra Pal, who is a lecturer and also operates a coaching center, has resigned in response to allegations related to his coaching center and involvement in a paper leak. There is no communal angle in this situation as two other Hindu teachers also work there and two Muslim teachers have already resigned.
Hence, it is evident from various sources that the entire incident had nothing to do with communal targeting as other Hindu teachers were not targeted and on the other hand Muslim teachers were also forced to resign.
Intent
Social media users, influencers and propagandists are circulating misleading claims from Bangladesh unrest to set their narrative based on religion.
Conclusion
Claim– Hindu teacher Gautam Chandra Pal was forced to resign because of his Hindu identity.
Fact– Other Hindu teachers were also at the same school they were not targeted and on the other hand several Muslim teachers were forced to resign at the same school.
Related Article: Fact Check: Gitanjali Barua, the principal of Azimpur Government Girls’ School and College tied to a tree? – D-Intent Data (dintentdata.com)
