CALCUTTA: Bharati troops with fixed bayonets moved tonight [March 27] into Howrah, a densely populated satellite town of Calcutta to cope with disturbances which have claimed 16 lives in the last 48 hours. Martial law was proclaimed this evening as the “situation continued to deteriorate and went out of the civil authorities’ control”. Martial law covers eight square miles with a population of about half a million on the right bank of the Hooghly River opposite metropolitan Calcutta.

Announcing the imposition of martial law in Howrah a West Bengal Press note admitted: “Brutal murders had been committed in some places and mob attacks on innocent persons had been made in other areas. Assaults had also taken place at several railway stations.” It also spoke of “a great deal of excitement and panic” during the past two days.

The West Bengal Government thought it desirable, the Press note added, that wherever there was a small isolated pocket of Muslims in a particular area, the inhabitants thereof should be collected together and removed to a larger unit where better protection could be arranged.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025