to inevitability. Severe violence broke out in Chhapra and Saran district, between 25 and 28 October. Very soon Patna, Munger and Bhagalpur also became the sites of serious violence. Begun as a reprisal for the Noakhali riot, whose death toll had been greatly overstated in immediate reports, it was difficult for authorities to deal with because it was spread out over a large area of scattered villages, and the number of casualties was impossible to establish accurately: "According to a subsequent statement in the British Parliament, the death-toll amounted to 5,000. The Statesman's estimate was between 7,500 and 10,000; the Congress party admitted to 2,000; Jinnah claimed about 30,000." However, By 3 November, the official estimate put the figure of death at only 445. According to some independent sources, the death toll was around 8,000 human lives. Some of the worst 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. Rioting also took place in Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province in late 1946 and early 1947. See also Opposition to the partition of India References Bibliography 1946 protests 20th-century mass murder in India Bengal Presidency Pakistan Movement Riots and civil disorder in India Attacks on religious buildings and structures in India Ethnic cleansing in Asia Partition of India Religious riots Religiously motivated violence in India Sexual violence at riots and crowd disturbances 20th century in Kolkata Mass murder in 1946 Massacres in India Massacres in 1946 Muslim League 1946 riots 1946 in British India Pogroms Persecution of Hindus Persecution by Hindus Persecution by Muslims Persecution of Muslims Political terminology in Pakistan August 1946 events in Asia 1946 murders in India