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{{Short description|1982 murder of monks and a nun in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}

The '''Bijon Setu massacre''' ({{langx|bn|বিজন সেতু হত্যাকাণ্ড}}) refers to the killing of 16 [[sadhu|''sadhus'']] and a ''sadhvi'' of the [[Ananda Marga]], at [[Bijon Setu]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]], on 30 April 1982. The killings remain unresolved, with no convictions, and continue to be the subject of political controversy.

== Background ==
[[Ananda Marga]], is an ultra-right wing socio-religious organization. Critics have alleged the cult-like organization maintained paramilitary tendencies and political aspirations, while supporters describe it as a socio-spiritual movement engaged in education and welfare. The organization engaged in public processions carrying skulls and swords, and were also reported to charge police officers with swords.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-12-11 |title=Explained: Ananda Marga, a controversial road |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/explained-ananda-magra-a-controversial-road/ |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Amritsar PLUS |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050526/aplus.htm#1 |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=www.tribuneindia.com}}</ref>

The organisation had earlier been linked both by state authorities and international authorities to incidents of violence and conspiracy, including assassination of Railway Minister [[Lalit Narayan Mishra|L.N. Mishra]] in 1975,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Former Union Minister LN Mishra Gets Justice 39 Years After His Murder |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/former-union-minister-ln-mishra-gets-justice-39-years-after-his-murder-710239 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250616061106/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/former-union-minister-ln-mishra-gets-justice-39-years-after-his-murder-710239 |archive-date=2025-06-16 |access-date=2026-03-17 |work=www.ndtv.com |language=en}}</ref> the [[Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing|Sidney Hilton Hotel bombing]] in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hilton Hotel Bombing - 09/12/1991 - NSW Parliament |url=http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA19911209005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923190535/http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA19911209005 |archive-date=2009-09-23 |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=www.parliament.nsw.gov.au}}</ref>

Residents of [[Ballygunge]] and [[Kasba, Kolkata|Kasba]] reported that, in the weeks preceding the incident, rumours related to child abduction had been widely circulating in the area.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Calcutta police arrested 106 people in their investigation of... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/05/02/Calcutta-police-arrested-106-people-in-their-investigation-of/9130389160000/ |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>

==Incident==
On 30 April 1982, members of Ananda Marga were travelling to an educational conference in [[Tiljala]] when they were stopped at three points at Bondel Gate, [[Bijon Setu]] and [[Ballygunge Junction railway station|Ballygunge railway station]] in Kolkata. They were forcibly removed from vehicles, assaulted by crowds, and set on fire. It was reported that the murders took place in broad daylight and were witnessed by many people.<ref name="Basu">{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19970502/12250433.html|title=Basu Govt still suppressing facts on Margi massacre|last=Namboodiri|first=Udayan|date=2 May 1997|work=[[The Indian Express]]|accessdate=17 March 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312070007/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19970502/12250433.html|archivedate=12 March 2010}}</ref>

== Press coverage ==
A week after the incident, ''The Statesman Weekly'', a leading Calcutta newspaper in 1982, reported that "seventeen Ananda Margis, two of them women, were killed on April 30 morning by frenzied mobs at three places in South Calcutta on the suspicion that they were child-lifters".<ref name=TheStatesmanWeekly1>{{citation
| newspaper=The Statesman Weekly
| pages=1, 7
| date=8 May 1982
| title=?
| via=cited in Sil (1988), pp. 3–4.
}}</ref>

The story sent out by [[United Press International]] added that two of the nuns who were killed were "seen carrying a child near a railway station".<ref name=UPI>{{citation
| author=United Press International
| publisher=United Press International
| work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]
| date=1 May 1982
| title=Mobs in Calcutta Burn 5 Monks Alive, Stab 12
| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19820501&id=MJ4cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3688,26026
| access-date=7 October 2016
| archive-date=6 May 2021
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506115540/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19820501&id=MJ4cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LmgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3688,26026
| url-status=live
}}</ref>

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 before the upcoming election.<ref name="Sil1988">{{citation
| last=Sil
| first=Narasingha
| title=The Troubled World of the Ananda Marga: An Examination
| journal=The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies
| volume=27
| number=4
| year=1988
}}
</ref>{{rp|4}} Ananda Marga blamed the attack on the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] (CPI(M)).<ref name="Crovetto">{{citation |last=Crovetto |first=Helen |title=Violence and New Religious Movements |title-link=Violence and New Religious Movements |pages=249–274 |year=2011 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |chapter=Ananda Marga, Prout, and the Use of Force |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |language=en |isbn=978-0-19-973561-7 |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar)}}</ref>{{rp|257}} While this accusation was repeated for many years,<ref name=HinduismToday1989>{{cite news
| url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=621
| accessdate=17 February 2013
| newspaper=[[Hinduism Today]]
| date=May 1989
| title=Controversial Movement Survives Years of Conflict, Emerges Stronger Than Ever
| archive-date=23 March 2013
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323034713/http://hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=621
| url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=IBN2011>{{cite web
| publisher=PTI
| title=CPI-M's allegation against us baseless, malicious: AMPS
| date=30 April 2011
| url=http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/cpims-allegation-against-us-baseless-malicious-amps/667831.html
| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411031723/http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/cpims-allegation-against-us-baseless-malicious-amps/667831.html
| url-status=dead
| archive-date=11 April 2013
| accessdate=17 February 2013
}}</ref> recent Ananda Marga scholarship{{When|date=May 2023}} assumes the mob was motivated by unfounded allegations of child kidnapping.<ref name=Inayatullah>{{cite book
| last=Inayatullah
| first=Sohail
| author-link = Sohail Inayatullah
| title=Understanding Sarkar: The Indian Episteme Macrohistory and Transformative Knowledge
| year=2002
| publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
| isbn=9004121935
}}</ref>{{rp|20}}

==Investigation and aftermath==
Initial reports said that more than 106 people were arrested in the first week after the incident.<ref name=":0" /> On 4th May, [[Jyoti Basu]], [[List of chief ministers of West Bengal|Chief Minister]] of West Bengal at the time formed the Deb Commission to investigate the murders. But the Ananda Margis rejected the state enquiry commission and demanded Central Govt to form an enquiry commission. The Central govt rejected this demand.<ref name=EBBS>{{Cite web|url=https://biswabanglasangbad.com/2021/04/30/anandmarg-monks-demand-new-government-to-punish-culprits-in-bijan-setu/|title=নতুন সরকারের কাছে বিজন সেতু নারকীয় হত্যাকাণ্ডে দোষীদের শাস্তির দাবি আনন্দমার্গ সন্ন্যাসীদের|date=30 April 2021|access-date=21 June 2023|archive-date=18 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418094642/https://biswabanglasangbad.com/2021/04/30/anandmarg-monks-demand-new-government-to-punish-culprits-in-bijan-setu/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[National Human Rights Commission]] took up the investigation in 1996, but did not make much progress.<ref name="TheStatesman2012">{{cite web|title=Judicial probe into killings of Margis|work=The Statesman|date=7 March 2012|url=http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=402481&catid=42&show=archive&year=2012&month=3&day=8|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130413213631/http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=402481&catid=42&show=archive&year=2012&month=3&day=8|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2013}}</ref> On 30 April 1999, the Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha (AMPS) demanded a high-level judicial probe led by a working Supreme Court judge into the killing of Ananda Margis.<ref name="IndianExpress1999">{{citation|work=The Indian Express|title=Proof into killings of Ananda Margis sought|date=1 May 1999|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990501/ige01007.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117100058/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990501/ige01007.html|archivedate=17 January 2008}}</ref><ref name="EBBS" /> On 30 April 2004, Ananda Marga held the first rally in Calcutta commemorating the massacre without the need to acquire a court order for permission.<ref name="Telegraph2004">{{cite web|title=Police nod for Marga rally|work=The Telegraph|date=28 April 2004|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040428/asp/calcutta/story_3181577.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130203125059/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040428/asp/calcutta/story_3181577.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 February 2013|access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref> The group continues to block the bridge and surrounding areas on 30 April every year with a procession.<ref name="Indianexpress2015">{{citation|title=Procession for 'slain' Ananda Margis today|work=The Indian Express|date=1 May 2015|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/procession-for-slain-ananda-margis-today/|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503033432/http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/procession-for-slain-ananda-margis-today/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ananda Marga were also involved in the [[Purulia arms drop case|Purulia Arms Drop Case]], in a conspiracy to overthrow the Left Front govt of West Bengal in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rajgarhia |first=Mahak |title=Purulia arms drop case resurfaces with new set of revelations |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-purulia-arms-drop-case-resurfaces-with-new-set-of-revelations-1993644 |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=DNA India |language=en}}</ref>

After the [[All India Trinamool Congress|Trinamool Congress]] came to power, the Amitabh Lala Commission of Inquiry, a single-member judicial commission under the supervision of Amitabh Lala, a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, was formed in March 2012 to investigate the killings after repeated appeals for a formal judicial inquiry.<ref name="TheStatesman2012" /><ref name="EBBS" /> The Commission has not submitted any report till date.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1222059/love-baba
*https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/27/The-FBI-is-investigating-a-worldwide-cult-that-runs/9754399268800/
*https://scroll.in/article/713727/danish-documentary-revisits-the-unsolved-mystery-of-the-1995-purulia-arms-drop

{{Coord missing|West Bengal}}

[[Category:1980s in Kolkata]]
[[Category:1982 murders in India]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murders in India]]
[[Category:April 1982 in India]]
[[Category:Crime in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Deaths by beating]]
[[Category:Arson deaths]]
[[Category:Lynching deaths in India]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1982]]
[[Category:Massacres in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Massacres of Bengali Hindus in India]]
[[Category:People executed by burning]]
[[Category:People murdered in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Anti-Hindu violence in India]]
[[Category:Arson in India]]
[[Category:Arson in 1982]]
[[Category:1980s fires in Asia]]

Bijon Setu massacre - Revision history

Adityagoel at 09:52, 21 March 2026