PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Sainbari Murder
Sainbari Murder
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 young men were killed in their own house. 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 at 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. Though there is no proof but later govt. TMCP, who was then a part of Congress and was the opposition, spread it as 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). Then CM Jyoti Basu and deputy CM Budhadeb Bhattacharya denied the allegation and asked for evidences and witnesses to prove it, though neither TMCP nor their leader Maamta Bannerjee could provide one.^[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 daughters-in-law 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 started 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 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

The atrocity of the incident was so shocking 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 gone 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]