22°06′25″N 88°57′04″E / 22.1070°N 88.9510°E
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Bay of Bengal |
Archipelago | Sundarbans |
Administration | |
India | |
State | West Bengal |
District | South 24 Parganas |
Demographics | |
Population | none |
Marichjhanpi is an island set in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in West Bengal, India. It is mostly remembered today for the incident in 1979 when the newly elected Communist Party of India (Marxist) government of West Bengal evicted several Bengali Dalit refugees who had saving their life in the reserved forest. The clash between armed miscreants and the police resulted in about 10,000 deaths (mentioned in blood island book); although the exact number is unknown, researchers believe that several collateral deaths took place from violent clashes, alleged police brutality, and disease.[1]