 A mela (fair) held from the town was attended by between 700,000 - 800,000 people and on 6 November 1946 there were a series of attacks on Muslim shopkeepers at the event, resulting in 46 deaths and a further 39 people injured.The assaults and also arson attacks continued on and off for several days at the mela, while the town of Garhmukteshwar itself witnessed a large number of anti-Muslim atrocities, including killings, arson and the destruction of the Muslim quarter.Official reports gave the Muslim death toll in the town as at least 214 people, and there were also quite a lot Hindu deaths in retaliatory attacks.