Satindranath Sen (1894-1955) was born in Kotali Para, Faridpur. His working place was at Barisal. He came in contact with Aswini Kumar Dutta while reading in High School and became inspired in patriotism by hearing songs of Charan Kabi, Mukunda Das. He became a member of Yugantar Dal with the help of Prangananda of Sankar Math of Barisal. He was jailed for 4 years being cinvicted in a Political Dacoity case of Krishnanagar in 1915. He organised a Youth Force during non-cooperation movement of 1920. As a result he was arrested and was jailed. He committed hunger strike for 61 days inhuman behavior of the Security Police and was released in 1923. He took active steps for peace in communal riot in 1924. He conducted movement of non-payment of Tax of Union Board and Satyagraha in Patuatola in 1926. He was again arrested in 1929 went on Hunger Strike in 1929. He called off hunger strike at the request of Subhas Chandra Bose after 108 days and was released on March 1931. While he was in Deuli jail in 1937 he protested against the mismanagement of the Jail authority.He was jailed for 3 months during WWII under DI rule of India. He was arrested at Calcutta on 13 th Aug 1942 and was released in 1945. He was elected in in overwhelming majority in Legislative Assembly of united Bengal in 1946. After Partition he remained in East Pakistan and was elected in East Pakistan Assembly.During Language movement in 1948 he was detained for one year in jail. Ingeneral election Muslim league was defeated but the central pakistan Govt. imposed President's Rule and arrested all anti-Muslim league persons. He was also arrested on 1.7.1954 under Defense rule. He died in 1955 in Dhaka jail reason unknown.
The Barisal Riots of 1950 or simply the 1950 riots (Bengali:পঞ্চাশের গণহত্যা) refers to the rioting between Bengali Hindus andBengali Muslims, the Pakistani police and the para-military accompanied by arson, loot, rape and abduction in the months of February and March 1950.
Background
Kalshira massacre
On 20 December 1949, four police constables raided the house of one Joydev Brahma in the village of Kalshira under Mallahat police station in Bagerhat sub-division in the district of Khulna, in search of some suspected communists, late in the night. Failed to find any suspects the constables tried to rape the wife of Brahma. Her cry alerted him and his companions, who in a desperate bid to save her attacked two constables, one of whom died on the spot. The remaining two raised an alarm and the neighbouring people came to their rescue. On the next day, the District Superintendent of Police arrived in Kalshira accompanied by armed police contingent and the Ansars and attacked Kalshira and other neighbouring Hindu villages mercilessly. They encouraged Muslims from neighbouring villages to loot the Hindu properties. A number of Hindus were killed, men and women were forcibly converted. Images were broken and shrines were desecrated. All the 350 homesteads in the village, except three, were demolished. The cattle and boats were forcibly taken away. Within a month of the massacre 30,000 Hindus fled from Khulna to India.
Nachole massacre
In January 1950, a police officer along with a few police constables and some agitating Santal peasants were killed in a clash related to the Tebhaga movement in Nachole under Rajshahi district. Immediately after the incident the police launched an army offensive in the area. Village after Santal villages were burnt down, the Santal peasants were beaten and tortured mercilessly. Santal properties were looted and Santal women were raped. 24 Santal peasants died due to police excesses at the Nachole police station. Several peasants were killed in Nawabganj and Rajshahi jails. Ila Mitra, the leader of the Tebhaga Movement was brutually tortured and raped in police custody.
Events
Dhaka
In February 1950, Sukumar Sen, the Chief Secretary of West Bengal had travelled to Dhaka to hold the Chief Secretary level dialogue with his East Bengal counterpart Aziz Ahmed. On 10 February, at around 10 A.M. in the morning, when the talks were in progress, a Muslim woman in blood stained clothes was paraded in the Secretariat building. It was rumoured that she had been violated in Kolkata. The Secretariat employees immediately struck work and started a procession shouting anti-Hindu slogans. As they progressed towards Nawabpur, many others joined the procession, which ended at the Victoria Park. At 12 noon, a rally was held at the park where the speakers, some of them employees of the Secretariat, made fierce anti-Hindu speeches. At around 1 P.M., as soon as the rally broke, the crowd began to loot Hindu shops and houses and set them on fire. The Hindus were killed wherever they were found. By the evening, 90% Hindushops of Dhaka were looted and many of them burnt. The Hindu jewellery shops were looted in the presence of police officers. An estimated 50,000 Hindus were displaced in seven hours of murder loot and arson. According to the PTI reports, the worst affected areas were Banagram and Makims Lane. Most of the houses in the two predominantly Hindu localities were completely looted, many completely burnt down and places of worship desecrated. Tajuddin Ahmed, who travelled in the different parts of Dhaka between 1 pm to 6 pm acknowledged the destruction and loss inflicted upon the Hindus by the Muslims in the localities of Nawabpur,Sadarghat, Patuatuli, Islampur, Digbazar, English Road, Bangshal and Chowk Bazaar.[9] On the afternoon of 12 February, 60 India-bound Hindu passengers were attacked at the Kurmitola airport. All the non-Muslim passengers arriving at the Tejgaon airport were stabbed. Three days after the massacre started in Dhaka, the villages of Vikrampur and Lohajang were attacked.[8] On 15 February, Simulia market was set on fire and the Hindu shops were looted. Between 15 February and 1 March, there were 15 instances of stabbing on Hindus reported from Dighali and Lohajang. On 28 February, the Dighali market was burnt down, the Hindu shops were gutted.[8] In Parulla village under Kaliganj police station, all the Hindu houses were looted. All the Hindu houses in the villages of Khsawala, Gazaria, Karar Char, Char Sindur, Palas and Sadhar Char were looted. According to Indian government sources, the bodies of 200 Hindu victims were cremated in the first two days of violence. They also claimed that 50,000 out of Dhaka's 80,000 Hindus had to flee their homes during the attacks.
Barisal
In Barisal, riots started on 13 February. Hindus were killed, raped and abducted indiscriminately. According to the press note of the Government of East Bengal two unidentified youths began to spread provocative rumours on the afternoon of 13 February in the town of Barisal. As a result many of the shops in the market closed down. Another rumour was spread that Fazlul Haque had been murdered in Kolkata. At the nightfall eight places were set on fire. 30 houses and shops were reduced to ashes and ten persons were severely burnt. The situation further deteriorated after 16 February when indiscriminate loot and arson of Hindu properties started in Gournadi, Jhalakati and Nalchiti under Sadar sub-division of Barisal district. The Hindu passengers on the water route between Barisal and Dhaka were killed within the steamer and thrown in the river.
In the river port of Muladi in Barisal district, several hundred Hindus took shelter in the police station after their homes were torched. They were later attacked within the police station compound and most of them were killed within the precincts of the police station. A Hindu school teacher was roasted alive by his Muslim students who danced around the fire. In the village of Madhabpasha, under Babugunge police station presently Babuganj upazila, two to three hundred Hindus were rounded up by a Muslim mob. They were made to squat in a row and their heads were chopped off one by one with a ramda. In the Madhabpashazamindar house 200 Hindus were killed and 40 injured.
According to contemporary Muslim eye witnesses a few thousand Hindus were killed and about two thousand Hindus went missing from Barisal district alone.Documentary filmmaker Supriyo Sen estimated that as many as 650,000 Hindus attempted to flee from Barisal to India and on their way were looted, killed and abducted.
Chittagong
In Chittagong, four persons from the Buddhist community, including a police inspector were stabbed and monasteries were demolished. The residences of some Buddhist families in Fatickchari police station area and that of a Buddhist zamindar in Lamburhat under Rowjan police station were burnt to ashes.] As a consequence large numbers of Buddhist people migrated to the Lushai Hills in India. On 12 February riots started in Chittagong town. The Hindu pilgrims who had assembled in Sitakunda on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri were attacked by Muslim mobs.[19] Nellie Sengupta, member of East Bengal assembly from Chittagong wrote to the Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan about the anti-Hindu riots in Chittagong.
Noakhali
In the Feni sub-division of Noakhali, the Hindus were attacked on 2 February, even before the attacks had actually broken out in Dhaka. One Hindu was killed and seven injured. Nine Hindu shops were looted. On 10 February, the Hindus were attacked in Noakhali town. On the afternoon of 13 February, the Hindus were attacked in broad daylight in the town of Feni, within 200 yards of the S.D.O., the police station and the courts. The Hindu quarters of the town like Masterpara, Ukilpara, Daktarpara, Sahadebpur, Barahaipur and Sultanpur were attacked and looted and then set on fire. Gurudas Kar, an influential member of the Hindu community was killed. After the destruction of the Hindu areas of the Feni town, the violence spread to the nearby villages under the Feni andChhagalnaiyan police stations, mainly habitated by the Nath community. The villages of Banspara, Rampur, Madhupur, Srichandrapur, Basikpur, Chakbasta, Shibpur, Baligaon were burnt to ashes. In the attacks, 45 Hindus were killed, 205 Hindu houses were burnt to ashes and huge amounts of assets were looted.
The Hindu women were abducted and forcefully married to Muslims. Harendra Kar's teenage daughter Mila Kar was forcefully married to Sultan Mian, a civil supply contractor after her father, grandfather and son were slaughtered. A married Hindu woman named Ranubala was forcefully married to Rahmat Ali, the son of Honorary Magistrate Barik Mian.
The attacks continued till 23 February and by then 4,500 Hindus had taken shelter at the refugee camp at Feni College and another 2,500 were scattered in various refugee camps across the Noakhali district. The Hindus who were trying to flee to the Indian state of Tripura were looted and assaulted on the way. Hindu women and children were held at the Chandpur and Akhaura railway stations. The Ansars, the police and the Muslim mobs refused to allow them to flee toAgartala or Kolkata. According to an Amrita Bazar Patrika report, 5,000 Hindus fled to Belonia, in the Indian state of Tripura.
Sylhet
In Sylhet, the arson, loot and massacre were perpetrated in an extensive manner. 203 villages were devastated and more than 800 Hindu religious places were desecrated. In the villages of Dhamai, Baradhami, Pubghat and Baraitali about 500 Manipuri families were affected by the riots.
Even since the Sylhet Referendum, it was propagated that the Hindus had voted against Pakistan and therefore they were the enemies of Pakistan. On 6 February 1950, the verdict of Bagge Tribunal was declared. The Muslims of Sylhet had anticipated that Karimganj would fall within Pakistan, but it was awarded to India. Some Muslim lawyers of Sylhet Bar Association and Muslim muktears of Karimganj threatened that there would terrible violence. On 10 February, a huge poster was hung at Bandar Bazar, the city centre of Sylhet. The poster titled Atrocities on Mussulmans by Hindus in Hindusthan, depicted the Muslims being dragged by means of ropes tied around their necks by Hindus armed with sticks and other weapons. Rivers of blood were flowing in Lumding and Kolkata, because of the Muslim killings. Local Muslims were pouring over the poster and inciting fellow Muslim to take revenge on the Hindus. On 11 February, at a rally at Gobinda Park, there was cry for Hindu blood. It was rumoured that Fazlul Haque had been murdered in Kolkata. The situation deteriorated rapidly in Sylhet. On 13 February, Section 144 imposed in Sylhet, in accordance with the decision taken by the Chief Secretaries of East Bengal and West Bengal at Dhaka. A Hindu youth named Prithwish Das was stabbed at Zinda Bazar. On 14 February, rumour spread that the Muslims were being massacred at Karimganj. The Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet, addressing a meeting of lawyers made an irresponsible statement that 5,000 Muslims were killed in Karimganj and that Muslims were arriving in large numbers from Karimganj into Sylhet. In the evening, Moti Das, a Bengali Hindu youth was killed near Jallapar. Three Manipuris were stabbed, two of whom died later.
On the afternoon of 14 February, the Namabazar market was looted by a Muslim mob. From the morning of 15 February, loot and murder began to spread in the villages. At 9 A.M. in the morning, the village of Murti was attacked. Hundreds of Muslims attacked the Senapati family, raising anti-Hindu slogans. The house was looted, the family members were beaten up, images in the family shrine were destroyed and finally the Hindus were converted to Islam by force. After that the mob went to the villages of Azmatpur, Daspara, Nasianji and Maheshpur. The next day, the mob returned to Murti and extracted a written statement from the Senapati family, that they had converted to Islam out of their own free will. At 8 P.M. in the night, the house of Gurucharan Dhar, in the village of Noagram, only six miles from Sylhet was attacked. The next day at 7 A.M. in the morning, a heavily armed Muslim mob surrounded the village. About 1,500 Hindus who inhabited the village, fled to the nearby jungle. The mob looted the entire village, desecrated the Tulsi manchas and the family shrines. Some of the houses were set on fire. In the nearby village of Mamrathpur, the houses of many Hindus, including those of Mahendra Chandra De, Kamakanta Dhar and Ashwini Kumar De were looted. The mob abducted one of the daughters of Ashwini Kumar De. The next day her ravished and senseless body was returned home. In Dhakadakshin, the mobs abducted two unmarried daughters of Bharat Dutta on the night of 15 February. On the morning of 18 February they returned home in a state of shock. When the family went to lodge a complaint with the police, the police suggested an out of court settlement for a sum of 1,000 rupees. Numerous Hindu girls from the villages under Sylhet Sadar police station area were raped.
On 15 February, the house of Dinendra Chandra Deb Purakayastha in the village of Gangajal was looted and forcefully occupied by Muslim miscreants. At 9 A.M., the village of Silani under Bahubal police station of the erstwhile Karimganj sub-division was attacked. The mob raised provocative slogans and set fire to Hindu houses. Many Hindus fled to the nearby jungles to save their lives while the others were forcibly converted to Islam. Those who refused to convert were killed. In Dhakadakshin and Kachuadi, girls were abducted from eminent Brahmin families. In Chunarughat police station area of Habiganj sub-division, many Hindus families including those of Ketan Das, Ashwini Nath and Birendra Nath were forcibly converted to Islam. In Fenchuganj, the factory of the steamer company was looted and set on fire. Pulin De, a Hindu, was murdered near Ilaspur. In Majigaon, under Fenchuganj police station, the houses of Ambika Kabiraj and Makhan Sen were looted and set on fire. In Balaganj police station area, in Rukanpur village, the houses of Digendra Sen, Gopesh Sen and Shib Charan Das were looted and the members were beaten up. In Madhurai and Kathalkhoi, the Hindus were beaten up and forcibly converted to Islam. In Golapganj police station area, the houses of Baikuntha Roy and Rashbehari Roy, in the village of Phulsain, were looted. In Bishwanath police station area, all the Hindu houses were looted in the village of Dandapanipur. A cow was slaughtered and the Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam. In Tukerkandi village, the Ghosh house was looted, Jogendra Ghosh was killed and many Hindus were stabbed. In Sijerkachh, the Pal Chowdhury and the Brahmin houses were looted and everybody was forced to convert to Islam. Bimala Smrititirtha, a Hindu scholar, refused to convert. His sacred thread was torn and stamped upon and he was stabbed repeatedly. The shikha of the Brahmins were torn by force. Idols were broken and thrown into nearby ponds.
On 16 February, a 300 strong Muslim mob attacked the village of Akhra. The destroyed the images and went after the priest who fled. The mob then looted the entire village, including the houses of Haripada Chowdhury and Bimala Bhattacharya. On 17 February, the goondas went from house to house and attacked the Brahmins. Their sacred threads were torn and stamped upon and they were forcibly converted to Islam. In the villages of Sunaita and Kurma, the Hindu women were attacked. Their sindur and conch shell bangles were broken. In the village of Rajaganj Akhra, the houses of Nir Bhatta and Ram Chandra Bhatta were looted. On 17 February, a 500 to 600 strong armed mob attacked the village of Lakeshwar under Chhatak police station. The Brahmin houses were looted. Two of them were severely beaten up. The sacred threads of the Brahmins were torn and their shikhas were cut off. They were forcibly converted to Islam. In Markul, the entire village was looted and forcibly converted to Islam. On 19 February, the village of Sadarpur, under Zakiganj police station was attacked. The house of Shuklal Namashudra was looted. When his brother went to lodge a complaint with the police, the police stabbed him, then wounded him with bayonet and finally kicked him out of the police station. During the night the villagers swam across the river to safety. At Pargram, the houses of Akrur Namashudra and Ramesh Namashudra were looted and forcibly occupied by the Muslims.
Bhola
Ilsaghat is a steamer station on the Meghna, in the island of Bhola, 7 miles from Bhola town. It falls on the steamer route between Barisal and Chittagong. On 16 February 1950, the S.S.Sitakunda of the Royal Steam Navigation Company anchored at Ilsaghat on her way to Chittagong. At Ilsaghat, several Hindu passengers from S.S. We've Gone boarded S.S.Sitakunda due to atrocities perpetrated on them by the crew. Around 8 P.M. that night, hundreds of Muslimsattacked S.S.Sitakunda while still anchored at the steamer station. They massacred the unarmed Hindu passengers and threw them into the river. 30 Hindus were killed in the massacre, while three survived.
Rajshahi
On 28 February, the Kolkata bound Assam Mail was attacked. On 28 February, disturbances erupted again in Rajshahi district. There were widespread incidents of murder, loot and arson in the villages under Tanore, Nachole and Gomastapur police stations. Forcible occupation of Hindu houses and rape & molestation of Hindu women led to the exodus of Hindus to Maldah district in the Indian Union. In some cases the Bihari Muslims forcibly ejected the Bengali Hindus from their houses and occupied them. During their journey to India, the Hindus were subjected to all kinds of harassment. The Ansars seized almost every belonging that the refugees had in their possession. They made the Hindu women suffer great indignities in the pretext of search.
On 17 March, the Pakistan police and the Ansars opened fire on the Santal refugees who were crossing over to India near Balurghat. 17 were killed and 14 were injured in the firing. The Pakistan armed forces and the Ansars drove away 20 Hindu families from Hariharpur village, very near to the border and adjacent toBalurghat in Indian Union. They broke open the roofs of the houses and took away the corrugated iron sheets, along with large quantities of rice, paddy, mustard, jute and utensils. In Jahanpur village their forcibly took possession of the ornaments of the Hindu refugee women. At the meeting between the District Magistrates and the Superintendents of Police of West Dinajpur district and Rajshahi district held at Farshipara, within Pakistan, the Pakistani authorities demonstrated their determination to pursue strong action against the Bengali Hindus, Santals and other tribals. Large numbers of Baloch soldiers were posted along the border near Balurghat.
Mymensingh
In the Jamalpur and Kishoreganj sub-divisions of Mymensingh district, rioting started on 11 February and continued till 15th. The neighbouring Hindu villages around Sherpur, namely Lakshmanpur, Mucherer Char, Char Sherpur Jhankata, Bhatsana and Sapmari were attacked. Hindu houses were looted and burnt.The Hindu houses in the villages of Atkapara, Firozpur and Budda villages were burnt. In Jumpur village, three members of the family of Tarak Saha were killed and their residence burnt.
On 12 February, the Hindu passengers in the Akhaura - Bhairab Bazar rail route between Comilla and Mymensingh were massacred. Taya Zinkin the reporter of the London Economist and the Manchester Guardian reported that the Mymensingh bound trains from Ashuganj were stopped on the Bhairab Bridge on the Meghna. The Muslim mobs attacked the Hindu passengers from both sides of the bridge. Those who dived into the river and tried to swam ashore were hit by brickbats and forcefully drowned. According to eyewitness Pierre Dillani about 2,000 Hindus were massacred on the Bhairab Bridge. On the same day, the Hindu passengers on board were attacked near Sararchar, a railway station between Bhairab Bazar and Kishoreganj.
Jessore
On 10 March, Muslim refugees who had arrived from West Bengal, led by the Ansars began to terrorize the Hindus. In Jhenaidah sub-division, the Hindus were forcefully evicted from their houses and their houses occupied. The entire Hindu population of Teghari village emigrated to Kolkata. On their way, all their belongings were forcefully taken away by the Ansars and the Muslim refugees from West Bengal. On 19 March, a batch of about 400 Hindu refugees from Jinjira village under Maheshpur police station, reached Hazarkhal village under Hanskhali police station of Nadia district in West Bengal. While the group was crossing the Ichhamati, three armed Pakistani policemen fired at them, in which one person died.
Imprisonment of Hindu leaders
When the massacres were going on the District Magistrate of Barisal asked Satindranath Sen, freedom fighter and Member of Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.) ofEast Bengal from Barisal to sign a declaration stating that there existed peace and normalcy in the district. Sen refused to sign the document. On 15 February, Satindranath Sen, was arrested under Section 307 C.C.P. and B.S.P.O. 1946 and imprisoned as an ordinary prisoner. On 18 February, Sen wrote to Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan appraising him of the situation in Barisal, without any avail. On 11 March, Suresh Chandra Biswas, a Member of Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.) of East Bengal from Sylhet was arrested for addressing a public gathering where he protested against the arson on Hindu houses. Biswas was belaoured, handcuffed and paraded through the streets and locked up. A charge of arson was framed against him and he was imprisoned. On 16 March, the five Hindu members of the seven member non-official inquiry committee investigating into the Kalshira massacre were arrested. The committee had submitted a report, mostly corroborating the origin and extent of the violence as reported in the Indian press. On 23 March, 30 leading Hindus, including 72 year old Mohini Mohan Kar, the zamindar of Kulaura and prominent Congress leaders like Kripesh Chandra Bhattacharjee were arrested from Maulvibazar in Sylhet district.
Press censorship
Santosh Chatterjee, a PTI correspondent was imprisoned on 25 November 1949 without any charges and released after a month. In February, several attempts were made on Indian newspaper correspondents in Feni sub-division in Noakhali. Dr. Dhirendra Kumar Dutta the younger brother of PTI correspondent Jadugopal Dutta was stabbed to death. On 2 March 1950, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, in a session in the Parliament, acknowledged that all correspondents attached to Indian newspapers and the Press Trust of India, working in East Pakistan were disaccredited and prevented from sending any news.
Refugee rehabilitation
| No. of Hindu students in boys schools of Dhaka | |||||||
| School | Jan 1950 | Dec 1950 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priyanath High School | 187 | 9 | |||||
| Pogose School | 580 | 50 | |||||
| K. L. Jubilee School | 719 | 52 | |||||
| Gandaria High School | 245 | 10 | |||||
| East Bengal High School | 204 | 16 | |||||
| Nabakumar Institution | 51 | 5 | |||||
There was a major influx of Bengali Hindu refugees in West Bengal after the Kalshira massacre. Thousands of Hindu refugees were stranded at railway stations, steamer stations and at the Dhaka airport. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy took the responsibility of bringing the refugees to India. He arranged 16 chartered planes to airlift the stranded evacuees from Dhaka airport. He further arranged 15 big passenger steamers to rescue the stranded refugees from Faridpur and Barisal. In March 1950, an estimated 75,000 Bengali Hindu refugees from East Bengal were admitted in the refugee camps of West Bengal. Around 200,000 refugees arrived in Tripura in March, 1950. An estimated 110,000 refugees arrived in Karimganj district in Assam from Sylhet district till 2 April 1950. On 11 April 1950, 2,500 Hindu refugees arrived at Shalimar in Howrah from Barisal in four chartered steamers. 20,000 refugees were still awaiting evacuation in Barisal. Till 12 April 1950, 120,000 refugees arrived in West Dinajpur district of West Bengal. Thus more than 500,000 refugees had arrived in West Bengal since the exodus began in January 1950.
| No. of Hindu students in girls schools of Dhaka | |||||||
| School | Jan 1950 | Dec 1950 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nari Shiksha Mandir | 275 | 8 | |||||
| Banglabazar Girls High School | 606 | 2 | |||||
| Anandamayee Girls High School | 75 | 5 | |||||
| Gandaria Girls High School | 227 | 10 | |||||
The total figure of refugees ran into millions. On 4 April 1950, Bidhan Chandra Roy stated that 2 million refugees from East Bengal had already taken shelter in India. According to Rabindranath Trivedi, a total of 3.5 million Hindu refugees arrived in India in 1950.[36] According to researcher A. Roy, 500,000 Hindus were killed in the genocide, which resulted in the exodus of 4.5 million Hindus into India.[37] About a million Hindu refugees from Sind arrived in India.
Protests in India
The Government of West Bengal lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan government.
Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India visited Kolkata on 6 March and later on 16 March and after seeing the plight of the Bengali Hindu refugees he made an appeal to Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan to stop the atrocities.
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