Bijon Setun massacre - 42 years on, Ananda Margis await justice in West Bengal

Immediately on the aftermath of Tsunami, SYMA volunteers were doing relief work at Cuddalore.  On that night we met 6 people clad in saffron – who had travelled all the way from Bengal.  When queried what they will do -  one of them said, anything that would bring some relief, be it providing chapatis, helping in construction or merely being with them at their hour of distress. To another Q how long would they stay – he retorted – no specific date, till date, we feel, we are of some use here !!  - Anand Margis ! (they were)

Bijon Setu is a bridge situated above Ballygunge Junction railway station connects EM Bypass through Kasba with Gariahat, in West Bengal.  The bridge is named after a Bengali engineer Bijon Basu of  Calcutta Improvement Trust. On 2 August 1974, while he was returning home from Santoshpur to Sealdah, a gang of robbers got on the train and looted passengers. Basu protested but the robbers stabbed him and threw him out from the running train beside Ballygunge railway station.  The bridge was built  in 1978

West Bengal has seen lot of violence of all kinds and there have been brutal massacres aimed at Hindus in particular.

Ānanda Mārga (lit. 'The Path of Bliss'), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in Jamalpur, Munger, Bihar, India, in 1955 by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti. It is also the name of the philosophy and life-style propounded by Sarkar, described as a practical means of personal development and the transformation of society. It is established in more than 180 countries across the world. Its motto is Ātmamokśārthaṃ jagaddhitāya ca (Self-Realisation and Service to the Universe). Tantra yoga, as interpreted by Sarkar, serves as the foundation of Ananda Marga.  The basis of Ananda Marga practice is covered by a set of rules called the 'Sixteen Points' that guide the practitioner on both spiritual and social aspects. It consist of yoga asanas, mudras, bandhas, pranayama, self-massage and two specific dances, kaos'ikii and tandava.  

Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha (AMPS) have been fighting for justice for more than 42 years now, demanding stern action against those involved in the killing of its 17 monks and nuns.  On 30 April, 1982, 17 monks and nuns belonging to AMPS were burnt to death by CPM goons in broad daylight on Bijon Setu.

FIR was lodged against Somnath Chatterjee, Sachin Sen, Kanti Gangopdhyay among others. The Left Front government did not do anything and no one was arrested. On 30 April, 1982 some monks and nuns who had come to the city to attend a conference at AMPS headquarters at Tiljala, were accosted on Bijon Setu by the CPM goons. They were dragged out of their vehicles, doused in kerosene and set on fire. The CPM alleged that the monks and nuns were involved in child lifting.  After four decades of the Bijon Setu massacre, the rulers of West Bengal have not initiated any action against the killers.   Although the attacks were carried out in broad daylight, no arrests were ever made. After repeated calls for a formal judicial investigation, a single-member judicial commission was set up in 2012 to investigate the killings.

Violence on Hindus in Bengal is not new – remember Noakhali riots of 1946 when Hindus were targeted, years later in 1967, attack on Margis occurred at their Purulia Global headquarters were 5 of their members were killed allegedly by CPI M goons.  A couple of years later, Cooch Behar congregation of Anand Margis was attacked.  

Jyoti Basu, the chief minister in Bengal at the time of the murders, and his police force were accused of inaction,  decades later,  he formed the Deb Commission in response to the pressure. Ananda Margis had no faith in the commission because Kanti Ganguly and other prominent CPI(M) leaders were accused in this incident.  The National Human Rights Commission took up the investigation in 1996, but did not make much progress, allegedly due to interference from the state government.  In 1999, the Ananda Marga Pracharaka Samgha (AMPS) demanded a high-level judicial probe led by a working Supreme Court judge into the mass killing of Ananda Margis.  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; their protests continues every year as justice still eludes !

After the Trinamool Congress came to power, 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.  Jyoti Basu was to say – what can be done, such things do happen !.   Commies hated the  Ananda Margis because they opposed them ideologically and the reprisal was killings.  How sad !!  When Trinamul Congress government came to power in 2011, Justice Amitabh Lala Commission was and  filed its report in 2019 but still today, the report has not been released by the West Bengal government.

Homage to those who lost their lives in the violence and those who have been silenced by the goons.

With regards – S Sampathkumar.
3^rd May 2024. 

Crime poster ~ Police releasing e-fit of accused burglar ~~!!

A few days back, a  38 year old woman from Chennai lost her life in a blast in Bangalore.  Now it is reported that Investigators have zeroed in on some terror groups and  sketches of suspects have been drawn.  The ACP is quoted as saying that they would be matching the sketches with the suspect list.  Many a times, the Police would make posters of the suspects based on the sketches too – and a CCTV camera would make that job of providing a face to the suspect, lot easier.  For making a sketch, defined impression of traits would help – say the shape of the face, the cut of the hair, the colour of eyes, the chin, the way nose or ear looked, physical description including the height, shoulders and more. 

Researchers are identifying genes that give rise to a person's physical traits, such as facial structure, skin colour or even whether they are right- or left-handed. That could allow police to build a picture of what a criminal looks like not just from sometimes-fuzzy eyewitness accounts, but by analyzing DNA found at a crime scene. Forensic experts are increasingly relying on DNA as "a genetic eyewitness."  The push to predict physical features from genetic material is known as DNA forensic phenotyping.

Cinema often portrays things that are unlikely to happen or what normal persons would not do ~ but that is what tickles people into laughter.  Vadivelu in  Nagaram, a film directed by Sundar C ~ rocked as Style Pandi, a character indulging in thefts rocks.  This reportedly was based on the 1993 American movie Carlito's Way. In one scene, Vadivelu would enter an empty house for burgling the contents, when the lights gets switched on, there would be hundreds of police cops; later he would be taken in a waiting police vehicle – and cops would give extra blow for a poster. Yes, a poster – poster put up by his disciples,  hailing his 100th robbery – pasted everywhere in the town – and on the police vehicle too…….. 

Elsewhere in Derbyshire, Police  have  released 'e-fit' drawn by three-year-old - and somehow he's still at large  !!!  A three-year-old girl whose home was broken into while she slept upstairs has drawn a picture of a burglar to help police hunt him down.  Detectives told little Evelyn Bardgett, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, her sketch 'would make a good e-fit' as they took statements from parents Stephen, 36 and Lucy, 31.

Cruel burglars used a spade from the garden shed to force open a kitchen window and get inside the home. They stole an iPad and Mr Bardgett's wallet. Evelyn drew the picture to help police catch burglars who broke into her house as she and her parents slept. Police confirmed the raid was one of five homes,  targetted by the same gang overnight between Monday and Tuesday in the past week.  Mr Bardgett, a self-employed floor layer, said: 'The worst thing is knowing that someone has been in your house and searching around while you were asleep upstairs.

It is reported that the culprits were there on the premises for at least two hours and scenes-of-crime officers and CID came too. Derbyshire Police said cash, jewellery, laptops and mountain bikes were stolen from other properties in the same area in the spate of burglaries between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

~ and Police are after the culprit, trying to pick up clues from the e-fit drawn by the 3 year old !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2nd Feb 2015.

McDonald's last cheeseburger sold in Iceland in 2009 in museum

Norse religion refers to the religious traditions of the Norsemen prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, specifically during the Viking Age. It is a folk religion,  and after 1000 years – a temple, reportedly is coming up.  News reports suggest that Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.

The McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald.  A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, or the actual corporation itself.  Recently, Mcdonald was in news due to a reported outrageous incident of pushing out a child in its Pune outlet. 

Mcdonalds, KFC and more global firms have entered India … this one is their closing down elsewhere. MailOnline reports of ‘burger and chips’ in National museum in Iceland.  Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland. Its latitude, at 64°08' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state and a popular tourist destination. Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around AD 870.

It is reported that the  McDonald's meal has spent the last year on display in Iceland's national museum, after the final fast food outlet shut down in the country. Now, the salty snack has gone one step further in becoming a historic item, going on display in a hostel - complete with a webcam so fans can document the food as it decays.  It is the last McDonald's burger and fries sold in Iceland that is on display at the Bus Hostel in Reykjavik

The one displayed at Bus Hostel in Reykjavik is the last  purchased cheeseburger from the chain, which left Iceland in 2009 ~ and it's still in its original wrapper.  Iceland's economic crash in late 2008 ultimately led the global fast food chain to close their doors in the country. The last day that locals could pick up a McDonald's burger was October 31, 2009. One particularly forward-thinking man, Hjortur Smarason, went to McDonald's the day before to pick up one of the final offerings - not to eat, but to keep on his garage shelf.

~ and it is that last McDonald's burger sold in Iceland that is on display ! .. The property has also set up a livestream for those who can't make it to Reykjavik to watch it rot and decay from anywhere in the world.  It could be a slow process, however, as the livestream site warns that 'you will have to be patient to see any changes' in its appearance. 

Strange are the ways of people !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th Feb 2015.

wrong payment by Insurers and extra recovery through Court !!

Often, Insurance Companies are portrayed in poor light in Tamil Cinema ~ many a times, people would talk of bribing people to have a property loss exaggerated and paid.  There have been scenes of people faking death to get paid under life insurance policies and a frail-looking Officer of the Company would come for verification and pay suitcase full of cash ! [in Cinema, the insurance payment is done in cash at the doorstep !!]

Away under US Code, there is special provision for recovery – it states that in addition to any other method of recovery provided by law, the Secretary concerned may authorize the recovery of any amount erroneously paid to a person by deduction from later payments to that person.  However, recovery of  an amount erroneously paid to a person is not required if, in the judgment of the Secretary concerned— there has been no fault by the person to whom the amount was erroneously paid; and recovery of such amount would be contrary to the purposes or against equity and good conscience.

Insurance bad faith is a legal term of art unique to the law of the United States that describes a tort claim that an insured person may have against an insurance company for its bad acts. Under the law of most jurisdictions in the United States, insurance companies owe a duty of good faith and fair dealing to the persons they insure.  If an insurance company violates that covenant, the insured person (or "policyholder") may sue the company on a tort claim in addition to a standard breach of contract claim.

Away in UK, two sisters were ecstatic when Insurance letter arrived informing of windfall settlement of  £110,000 insurance  after their  father's death - but were forced to pay it all back because it was the wrong man's money.

Elaine Briscoe and Sandy Millington were delighted when the six-figure cheque arrived after a three-year battle to track down the missing pension of Robert Gent. They immediately split £40,000 between his four grandchildren - as former grave-digger Mr Gent had wanted - and spent around £20,000 more.  The sisters had spent three years in vain trying to get the pension for their father after he retired at the age of 65 in 2008. They had still not managed to track it down by the time he died three years later but vowed to continue looking for it in his memory.

So they were overjoyed when Friends Life sent the cheque to their solicitors in October 2013; but  within a month their joy turned to horror when ‘Friends Life’ announced they had given them the pension belonging to another customer with the same name.  After spending much of the sum, the sisters were horrified to learn of the mistake and struggled to repay the total. They were recently forced to pay Friends Life £7,000 on top of the full amount paid back as the Insurance company threatened them with legal action. 

The devastated pair were forced to sell their father's house - which they planned to keep as an investment - to repay the money they had spent. They also had to borrow from friends and other relatives to make up the full amount of £108,895 and paid it all back within a year, by last October. Still,  Friends Life took them to court earlier this month and obtained an order to get even more from them - £6,000 in costs plus £1,000 in interest. The company admitted making an error but said they were forced to launch legal action because the executors told them the money had been distributed and would not be repaid and the parties could not settle the matter amicably.

Thus the botched Insurance payout cost the sisters an extra £7,000.  Going by the timeline, in Sept 2008, Robert Gent retired from grave-digging and while the sisters attempted to obtain father’s pension, he passed away in 2011.  Later in Oct 2013, Friendslife informed that they are owed £108,000 in their father's name. In Nov 13, after the amount was disbursed, Friendlife contacted the sisters informing that the payment was by mistake.  In Oct 14, the repayment is made after desperate borrowing and sale of house.  In Jan 15, the sisters are taken to Court and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs and £1,000 interest.

The sisters are quoted as saying  'We got quoted a point of law which says that no one should gain from a mistake, which we accept, but surely no one should have to pay for one either. The Company is quoted as saying that the significant overpayment was a result of human error !!

So, what is your say on this ?

With regards – S. Sampathkumar                                                                         4^th Feb 2015.