In February 1929, a rumor spread among Hindus that Pashtuns were kidnapping Hindu children as a human sacrifice to their God, to ensure the prosperity of the bridge-building project. The rumor's origin, as reported by Inquiry Commision, was traced to Hindu workers of an oil company who were on strike. To replace them, the oil company hired Pashtun workmen in December 1928, who could not be intimidated by the strikers. The Hindu textile mill hands, in support of the Hindu strikers at Oil company, conspired to murder four Pashtun watchmen at New China Mills on January 18, 1929. They ambushed the four Pashtun watchmen and managed to murder three of them. In order to escalate the situation, the striking Hindu workers spread a baseless rumor that Pashtuns were kidnapping Hindu children to sacrifice them on the foundations of a bridge under construction in Baroda. The most searching inquiry made by the authorities failed to discover that a single child had disappeared from the district [1]. The provincial government of Bombay, in their report to Delhi, suspected that the Hindu communists deliberately organized the kidnapping scare to intimidate Pashtun workmen [2].
From February 2-4, sporadic assaults and murders of isolated Pashtuns began in Bombay, fueled by the kidnapping rumor. Hindu mobs targeted Pashtuns throughout the city. Pashtuns, highly visible as watchmen, were easy targets. Initially, Pashtuns showed restraint, but they were not the types to take a beating lying down. They initiaited reteliatory attacks to avenge their dead. The Police surgeon, swept along with one of their avenging missions, noted: "I would say that the body of Pathans who I accompanied..... could not be classed as hooligons. They were grim, determined crowd, lusting for blood to avenge their dead. They discussed matters with me in a most friendly manner, saying that they were going to even up matter a bit. As they could not find or catch no Hindus in the streets, they broke in the shop fronts methodically, as they proceeded along." [3]
Although vastly outnumbered and technically victims, Pashtuns managed to put Hindu rioters on the back foot, and the latter disappeared from the streets out of sheer terror. The Time reported on Febraury 18, 1929:
"A British sentry, Private Hopkins, ws standing rigid and immobile at his post of duty, when a Pathan mob suddenly appeared, whooping in full cry after a Hindu. To have interfered would have been suicide. Private Hopkins stood as quiet as a lamp post. Before his eyes the Hindu was caught, pinioned, kicked, slashed horribly, and finally disemboweled. This fiendish atrocity was too much for a Soldier of the King to bear. Private Hopkins, according to English correspondents, fainted." [5]
According to Inquiry Commission, 1929 (Mahrashtra state archives department), recorded that in all 92 Hindus, 55 Muslims (of whom 26 were Pashtuns), one European Depucty Inspector of Police and one Parsi were killed, making these riots among the deadliest communal disturbances in Bombay that year [6]. Pashtun casualties were concentrated in the initial phase, when they were caught unaware by Hindu rioters. However, once they began retaliating, they inflicted significantly heavier losses on the Hindus. Indian Muslims were also caught in the riots.
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| Police dispersing a crowd of Pashtuns in Bombay riots. From 'The Graphic', Saturday, 2nd March, 1929. |
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