~200 (Roy Bucher, Indian Army chief),[3] The Noakhali genocide were a series of semi-organized massacres, rapes and abductions of Hindus, combined with looting and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by the Muslim mobs in the districts of Noakhali in the Chittagong Division of the eastern part of British Bengal (now in Bangladesh) in October–November 1946, a year before India's independence from British rule.

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.

[22] In 1937, Gholam Sarwar Husseini, a member of a Muslim Pir family, was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly on a Krishak Praja Party ticket.

[27] According to Governor Burrows, "the immediate occasion for the outbreak of the disturbances was the looting of a Bazar [market] in Ramganj police station following the holding of a mass meeting and a provocative speech by Gholam Sarwar Husseini.

"[28] That included attacks on the place of business of Surendra Nath Bose and Rajendralal Roy Choudhury, the former president of the Noakhali Bar and a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader.

from Chandpur, Tipperah, wrote to Jogendra Nath Mandal stating that thousands of Scheduled Caste Hindus had been attacked in Ramganj police station area in Noakhali.

[39] It soon engulfed the neighbouring police stations of Raipur, Lakshmipur, Begumganj and Sandip in Noakhali, and Faridganj, Hajiganj, Chandpur, Lakshman and Chudagram in Tippera.

[43] Edward Skinner Simpson stated in his report that 22,550 cases of forcible conversion took place in the three police station areas of Faridganj, Chandpur, and Hajiganj in the district of Tipperah.

[44] On 13 October, Kamini Kumar Dutta, the leader of the Indian National Congress in the Bengal Legislative Council, paid a visit of inquiry to Noakhali in his personal capacity during which interviewed Abdullah, the District Superintendent of Police.

On his return he communicated with the Home Department of the Interim Government seeking effective remedial measures and stating that it was impossible for anyone from outside to enter the disturbed areas without risking his life.

[45] Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the Prime Minister of Bengal, held a press conference in Kolkata on 16 October at which he acknowledged the forcible conversion, plunder and looting of Hindus in Noakhali.

[35] On 19 October, Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani, the president-elect of the Indian National Congress; Sarat Chandra Bose, the Member-in-Charge of Works, Mines and Power in the Interim Government; Surendra Mohan Ghosh, the President of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee; Sucheta Kripalani; Major General A. C. Chatterjee; Kumar Debendra Lal Khan and the editor of Anandabazar Patrika flew to Chittagong at the suggestion of Mahatma Gandhi.

[50] On 25 October, at a mass meeting in New Delhi presided over by Suresh Chandra Majumdar, the managing director of the Anandabazar Patrika and the Hindusthan Standard, a resolution was passed demanding the immediate recall of the Governor of Bengal, the dismissal of the Muslim League ministry and intervention of the centre.

[51] At a press conference in Kolkata on 26 October, Lieutenant General F. R. R. Bucher, the GoC of Eastern Command, stated that it was impossible to estimate how long it would take to restore the confidence of the affected people in the government.

Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, and Pandit Narendranath Das, along with other workers, flew to Comilla and entered the affected area with military escorts.

[56] Sanat Kumar Roy Chowdhury, the Vice-President of the Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha, inaugurated a well-equipped 25-bed hospital in Lakshmipur in memory of Rajendralal Raychaudhuri.

[58] Beginning on 26 October, groups of volunteers led by Ashoka Gupta made weekly trips to Noakhali, where they assisted in locating abducted women, providing relief to refugees at railway stations, and compiling lists of affected villages based on survivors' testimonies.

[61] Several Congress leaders, including Satish Chandra Dasgupta, Dhirendranath Dutta, Trailokya Chakrabarti, and Bishwaranjan Sen, played leading roles in coordinating relief efforts.

Sujata Devi established the Bangiya Pallee Sangathan Samity, which provided rehabilitation services and operated a free school to educate the rescued girls.

Relief workers criticized the government's decision to treat an entire joint family as a single unit, contending that Rs 250 was insufficient for rebuilding a homestead.

On 11 February 1947, Ashoka Gupta met Akhtaruzzaman, the Additional District Magistrate of Noakhali, on behalf of the relief workers and obtained clarification on the order to ensure that no families were excluded from receiving aid.

After the interview, Dr Amiya Chakravarty said that the most urgent need of the hour was to rescue the abducted Hindu women who obviously could not be approached by the military because, after being forcefully converted, they were kept under the veil.

However, in March 1947, when the Congress agreed to the Partition of India, the relief camps were abandoned and a fresh refugee influx took place in Tripura, Assam and the region that was to become West Bengal.

[73] The Bengali periodical Desher Vani published in Noakhali quoted a relief worker in the Ramganj police station area who stated that even after four months people had not returned to their houses.

The relief workers reported the matter to Gandhi and Suhrawardy, and the latter wired a government order to the Noakhali SP on 22 March prohibiting meetings in public places, processions and slogans.

[79] Rehan Ali, the Officer-in-Charge of the Ramganj police station, said that the meeting would be held at the Amtali ground, which was a private place as it was adjacent to a mosque, and therefore the government order would not be violated.

[81] Addressing the gathering one of the speakers, Yunus Mian Pandit, criticised the Hindus for the practice of untouchability and lack of a purdah system and justified an economic boycott on them.

[72] On 13 May 1947, William Barret, the Divisional Commissioner of the Chittagong Division, submitted a top secret report to P. D. Martyn, the Additional Secretary to the Department of Home, Government of Bengal detailing the persecution of the Hindus.

[40] Writing in 1950, Francis Tuker, who at the time of the violence was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, India, estimated the Muslim death toll to be between 7,000 and 8,000.

[88] Severe rioting also took place in Garhmukteshwar in United Provinces, where a massacre occurred in November 1946 in which "Hindu pilgrims, at the annual religious fair, set upon and exterminated Muslims, not only on the festival grounds but in the adjacent town" while the police did little or nothing; the deaths were estimated at between 1,000 and 2,000.