Sainbari incident

The Sainbari incident occurred in 1970 in Sainbari in Bardhaman in West Bengal in India, where several people were hacked to death, by CPI(M) goons, their blood smeared on the face of their mother.

A newspaper report puts the date of the incident as 17 March 1970. The Sain brothers were members of a family with strong allegiance towards the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, had visited the house in the heart of Bardhaman town to console the bereaved. They were killed because they resisted the demand to switch sides. Two brothers, Pranab Sain and Moloy Sain were murdered and their mother Mriganayani was forced to eat rice which was stained with her sons' blood. The man who led the Sainbari death squad has subsequently been a member of the CPI(M)'s central committee.

Swarnalata Jash, a sister of the Sains, has described the incident: "...flaming arrows were shot from all directions into our house… Then the attackers rushed into the burning house and speared Moloy and Pranab and then set them on fire… Even my elder brother was later beheaded."