Noakhali riots

The Noakhali riots were a series of semi-organised massacres, rapes, and abductions of Hindus, combined with looting and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by Muslim mobs in the districts of Noakhali in the Chittagong Division of the eastern part of British Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) from October to November 1946, a year before India's independence from British rule.

It affected the areas under the Ramganj, Begumganj, Raipur, Lakshmipur, Chhagalnaiya, and Sandwip police stations in Noakhali district and the areas under the Hajiganj, Faridganj, Chandpur, Laksham, and Chauddagram police stations in Tipperah district, a total area of more than 2,000 square miles.

The massacre of the Hindu population started on 10 October, on the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, and continued unabated for about a week. Around 50,000 Hindus were marooned in the affected areas subordinate to the Muslim radicals.

Mahatma Gandhi camped in Noakhali for four months and toured the district on a mission to restore peace and communal harmony. In the meantime, the Indian National Congress leadership started to accept the proposed Partition of India, and the peace mission and other relief camps were abandoned. The majority of the survivors migrated to West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam in post-partition India.