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Bijon Setu massacre

The Bijon Setu massacre (Bengali: িবজন সতু হত াকা ) was the killing and burning of 16 monks and a nun belonging
to Ananda Marga at Bijon Setu, near Ballygunge, Kolkata in West Bengal, India, on 30 April 1982. Despite the attacks
being carried out in broad daylight, no arrests were ever made. After repeated calls for a formal judicial investigation,
a single-member judicial commission was set up to investigate the killings in 2012.

Contents
Incident
Initial press reports and reactions
Explanations
Investigations and memorials
Notes
References
External links

Incident
On the morning of 30 April 1982, 17 Ananda Marga renunciates (16 monks and one nun) were dragged out of taxis
that were taking them to an educational conference at their headquarters in Tiljala, Kolkata. They were beaten to
death and then set on fire simultaneously at three different locations. It was reported that the killings took place in
broad daylight and were witnessed by thousands of people, as they were performed in public.[1]

Initial press reports and reactions

The Statesman Weekly, the leading Calcutta newspaper at the time, reported a week after the incident that "Seventeen
Ananda Margis, two of them women, were done to death on April 30 morning by frenzied mobs at three places in
South Calcutta in the suspicion that they were child-lifters."[2] The reporting did not include any compassion for the
victims or their families, a tone that prefigured the reaction of both government and the media. Similar unsympathetic
reporting appeared in the 5 May edition of the Statesman as well as contemporaneous editions of Sunday and India
Today. The Minister of State for Home Affairs was quoted to the effect that the police reaction could have been
improved but then went on to reassure members of Parliament that "the Government was watching the activities of
the Marg [Ananda Marga members]".[2] In his study on the incident, historian Narasingha Sil concluded the
government's overall attitude was that the Ananda Marga members had "got themselves killed because they were so
sinfully invidious." [3]:4 The wire story sent out by United Press International added the detail that two of the nuns
who were killed were "seen carrying a child near a railway station".[4]

Explanations
As part of its initial coverage, The Statesman Weekly reported the state's Chief Minister's suspicions that the attack
had been staged to embarrass the party in power prior to the upcoming election.[3]:4 Ananda Marga blamed the attack
on the Communist Party of India (Marxist). [5]:257 While this accusation was repeated for many years,[6][7] recent
Ananda Marga scholarship now assumes the mob was motivated by unfounded allegations of child kidnapping.[8]:20

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Narasingha Sil discusses at length the state of the reputation of Ananda Marga in the years and months leading up to
the massacre.[3]:15 Sil describes how members of Ananda Marga had engaged in many acts of violence (including
murders of members leaving the group); media coverage and government response made the group out to be far more
violent than it actually was. Sil then describes how the term "child-lifter" (chheledhara) is a particularly loathsome
label in Bengal and draws the parallel to how women accused of witchcraft were treated in the West.[3]:15 Sil reports
how three people were beaten to death by a mob after being suspected of child kidnapping even though no report of
any such kidnappings had been made to the police.[Note 1]

Historian Helen Crovetto further develops this line of thought, noting that the social services provided by the Ananda
Marga may have made them more vulnerable to such an accusation.[5]:257

Investigations and memorials

The National Human Rights Commission took up the investigation of the case in 1996 but did not make much
headway, allegedly due to interference from the state government at the time.[10] On 30 April 1999 the Ananda Marga
Pracharaka Samgha (AMPS) demanded a high-level judicial probe into the mass killing of Ananda Margis.[11] On 30
April 2004, Ananda Marga was able to hold the first rally in Calcutta commemorating the massacre without the
necessity of first acquiring a court order forcing the police to allow the rally to occur.[12] The group continues to block
the bridge and nearby areas on 30 April every year holding a procession.[13] A single-member judicial commission to
investigate the killings was finally empaneled in March 2012.[10]

Notes
1. On 25 August 2010 a woman in Chittagong was lynched by a mob after a similar accusation. The news report
indicated that this was an ongoing problem.[9]

References
1. Namboodiri, Udayan (2 May 1997). "Basu Govt still suppressing facts on Margi massacre" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20100312070007/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19970502/12250433.html). The Indian
Express. Archived from the original (http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19970502/12250433.html)
on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
2. "?", The Statesman Weekly, pp. 1, 7, 8 May 1982 – via cited in Sil (1988), pp. 3–4.
3. Sil, Narasingha (1988), "The Troubled World of the Ananda Marga: An Examination", The Quarterly Review of
Historical Studies, 27 (4)
4. United Press International (1 May 1992), Mobs in Calcutta Burn 5 Monks Alive, Stab 12 (https://news.google.com/
newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19820501&id=MJ4cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3688,26026), Sarasota
Herald-Tribune
5. Crovetto, Helen (2011), "Ananda Marga, Prout, and the Use of Force", in Lewis, James R. (ed.), Violence and
New Religious Movements, Oxford University Press, pp. 249–274, ISBN 9780199735631
6. "Controversial Movement Survives Years of Conflict, Emerges Stronger Than Ever" (http://www.hinduismtoday.co
m/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=621). Hinduism Today. May 1989. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
7. CPI-M's allegation against us baseless, malicious: AMPS (http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/cpims-alleg
ation-against-us-baseless-malicious-amps/667831.html), PTI, 30 April 2011, retrieved 17 February 2013
8. Inayatullah, Sohail (2002). Understanding Sarkar: The Indian Episteme Macrohistory and Transformative
Knowledge. Brill. ISBN 9004121935.
9. Another woman falls prey to kidnap hoax in Ctg (http://www.banglanews24.com/English/detailsnews.php?nssl=d4
0e0a2a2f466a90ee2630fc925e7af9&nttl=201205184238), BanglaNews24.com, 25 August 2010

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10. Judicial probe into killings of Margis (https://archive.is/20130413213631/http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?o

ption=com_content&view=article&id=402481&catid=42&show=archive&year=2012&month=3&day=8), The
Statesman, 7 March 2012, archived from the original (http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_conten
t&view=article&id=402481&catid=42&show=archive&year=2012&month=3&day=8) on 13 April 2013
11. "Proof into killings of Ananda Margis sought" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080117100058/http://www.indianexpr
ess.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990501/ige01007.html), Indian Express, 1 May 1999, archived from the original (ht
tp://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990501/ige01007.html) on 17 January 2008
12. Police nod for Marga rally (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040428/asp/calcutta/story_3181577.asp), The
Telegraph, 28 April 2004, retrieved 17 February 2013
13. "Procession for 'slain' Ananda Margis today" (http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/procession-for-slain-a
nanda-margis-today/), Indian Express, 1 May 2015

External links
A documentary about the 30 April 1982 massacre (http://canvaspix.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/bijonsetu1982/)
30 April 1982, A Pathetic Chapter of History Written in Blood of the 17 Monks and Nuns of Ananda Marga (http://
www.ananda-marga.org/?p=12) ananda-marga.org (link from the official website of Ananda Marga)
Photos of Ananda Margi processions in Calcutta marking the anniversary of the massacre (https://www.flickr.com/
photos/13829121@N06/sets/72157604255490575/)
Ananda Marga and the Use of Force by Helen Crovetto (https://web.archive.org/web/20110519005412/http://calib
er.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.26) An in-depth research of Ananda Marga activities and the Bijon
massacre. (limited access)

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