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| Narasingha Sil discusses at length the state of the reputation of Ananda Marga in the years and months leading up to the massacre.<ref name=Sil1988 />{{rp|15}} Sil describes how members of Ananda Marga had engaged in many acts of violence (including murders of members leaving the group), media coverage and government response made the group out to be far more violent than it actually was. Sil then describes how the term "child-lifter" (''chheledhara'') is a particularly loathsome label in Bengal and draws the parallel to how women accused of witchcraft were treated in the West.<ref name=Sil1988 />{{rp|15}} Sil reports how three people were beaten to death by a mob after being suspected of child kidnapping even though no report of any such kidnappings had been made to the police.{{refn|group="Note"|On August 25, 2010 a woman in Chittagong was lynched by a mob after a similar accusation. The news report indicated that this was an ongoing problem.<ref>{{citation | title=Another woman falls prey to kidnap hoax in Ctg | publisher=BanglaNews24.com | url=http://www.banglanews24.com/English/detailsnews.php?nssl=d40e0a2a2f466a90ee2630fc925e7af9&nttl=201205184238 | date=August 25, 2010}}</ref>}}
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| Historian Helen Crovetto further develops this line of thought, noting that the social services provided by the Ananda Marga may have made them more vulnerable to such an accusation.<ref name=Crovetto />{{rp|257}} She detail how, in Portugal, the institutional expectation of constantly rising enrollment of children in the Ananda Marga schools and children's homes led to a reluctance to release the children back to their parents when the parents were once again able to care for them. Crovetto speculates that a similar situation in Bengal could have precipitated the accusations and mob violence. Neither Crovetto nor Sil give any credence whatsoever to the accusations.
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| ==Investigations and memorials== | | ==Investigations and memorials== |