Cultural Hegemony & Untold Genocides by Rinita Mazumdar PhD
From The Diary of 1947 by Nirmal Kumar Basu, in Sandip Mukherji's Noakhali 1946, translated by Rinita Mazumdar.
During the genocide of Hindus Hindu women suffered most
Here is a description of pregnant Hindu women refugees during Noakhali mayhem during 1946. The excerpt is from Anadabazar Patrika, the most circulated Bengali language daily, published from Calcutta, India.
The most heart-wrenching stories are those of the women who are about to give birth. They are lying in the station and having labor pain. One can only imagine that there are beds on the floor of the refugee camp. There is a scarcity of midwives and several newborns died. Sometimes the new mothers need blood. On November 21 in February in the Faridgung area we got the news that in the previous 12 days more than 200 babies were born and most of them died without special care and there was little chance of saving the mothers.
-The following was published by the Public Relations Department of the Bengal Government]
“Last 15th December the article “Destruction of Noakhali” was published in Anandabazar Patrikaa. Mr. Chapalakanta Bhattachrya, wrote that last November 9 to November 21 in Faridgung 200 babies were born and all the newborns died right after birth. A detailed inquiry about this was made. In Chandpur camp, the public Head Department of the Special assistant Director had ignored during the publication of the article in the Faridgung area only 14 babies were born. Among them, 2 babies and one pregnant woman died.
Yours Sincerely,
P.S. Mathur, Director of Bengal Government
Anandabazar Patrika, City Edition, 13th January 1947.
