Sainbari murder

Sainbari Murder
The house of the Sain family where the murder happened
Location	Bardhaman, West Bengal, India
Date	17 March 1970 7:30 a.m.
Target	Sain Family
Attack type	Political murder (alleged)
Victims	Pranab Kumar Sain, Malay Kumar Sain and Jitendranath Rai
Perpetrators	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Assailants	Benoy Krishna Konar, Anil Basu, Nirupam Sen and Amal Halder

The Sainbari Murder ^[1] occurred on March 17, 1970, in the house of the Sain family in Bardhaman, West Bengal, India, where three people were killed and their blood was forced to be eaten with rice by their mother. Later, it was mentioned as one of the most notorious murder incidents in India. ^{[2] [3]}

Incident

The newspaper incident report puts the date of the incident occurred on 17 March 1970. The Sain brothers were members of a family with strong allegiance towards the Indian National Congress. Naba Kumar Sain — the eldest son of the family —was allegedly blinded and his eyes gouged out while his younger brothers, Malay and Pranab were allegedly hacked to death in front of the watching family members, by the perpetrators. Naba Kumar was killed a year later. The entire incident was done by CPI(M) members, because of the family's support towards Indian National Congress ^[4] and the victims' refusal to switch allegiance to the CPI(M). ^[5]

A private tutor, Jitendranath Rai, who had come to teach the kids in the family was hacked to death as well. Later, the mother of the Sain brothers was forced to eat rice smeared with the blood of her sons.

One of the daughter-in-laws of the family, Rekha Rani, now around 75 years old, recounted the horrors of the incident in an interview with Indian Express. She said,

"My brothers-in-laws Pranab Kumar Sain and Malay Kumar Sain and Jitendranath Rai, a private tutor who had come to teach the kids, were hacked in front of my eyes. I was 26. It all began at 7.30 am… people stared pelting stones on our house. Later, they set it on fire."

"My mother-in-law, Mrignayana Devi, tried to stop the attackers but she was hit on her head. Two attackers mixed Pranab and Malay’s blood with rice and forced it into her mouth… She was taken to the hospital… she survived."

- she added. ^{[6] [4]}

Swarnalata Josh, the daughter of the Sain family, also witnessed the atrocities of that day. The attack took place on the day of Swarnalata's one-month-old son Amrit Kumar Josh's Shashthi ritual. The frantic attackers of the CPI(M) also wanted to throw the newborn baby into the fire. Later, with the help of the locals, the newborn was saved.

The newborn of that day, now 51-year-old, Amrit Kumar Josh said in a 2011 interview with India's leading daily The Times of India:

"I could have died that day. But like my family, I still bear the mental scars. It's unfortunate that we are still ruled by a party that believes in ruling by terror."

^[6]

Aftermath

Not many people are aware of the Sainbari incident. Even those who are only remember the horror of a mother who was forced to eat rice smeared with the blood of her dead sons. The atrocity in itself was so huge that it eclipsed other acts of monstrosity that occurred on 17 March 1970. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, had visited the house in the heart of Bardhaman town to console the bereaved. ^[7]

The shock made the mother lose her mental balance and state from which she never recovered till her death a decade later. Those communist cadres who perpetrated this violence may have went on to become ministers and MPs under the Left-Front government and were never brought to book, as CPI(M) leaders Benoy Konar, Anil Basu, Nirupam Sen (former State Minister of Commerce and Industries) and Amal Halder were alleged by the defense to be directly involved in the Sainbari murder case. ^{[6] [8]}

When the Trinamool government formed a commission in 2011 to probe the incident, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said "It's politics of vendetta." ^[9]

References

1. Avantika (17 March 2019). "Almost 50 years ago, this day, a mother was fed rice smeared with her sons' blood – Sainbari Killings". in.news.yahoo.com. Yahoo India. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
2. "The Statesman". Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
3. Roy, Saugata (15 November 2007). "CPM's violent past rears its ugly head again". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
4. "Irony deals a brutal hand on this family — in CPM-Congress alliance, 46 yrs after Sainbai massacre". 9 April 2016.
5. "A look back at the history of Bengal's political violence". Hindustan Times. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
6. "Victims recall Sainbari horror | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India.
7. "Sainbari survivors despair of getting justice". The Statesman, 5 May 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.^{[ dead link ]}
8. "Burdwan Sainbari Case - WikiEducator". wikieducator.org.
9. Dutta, Ananya (13 August 2011). "It's politics of vendetta: Buddhadeb". The Hindu– via www.thehindu.com.