Why in the news?

On April 13, 1919, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered British troops to open fire on a peaceful gathering in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, leaving a deep scar on India’s collective memory.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

1. Background: Protesting the contentious Rowlatt Act

• The act officially known as the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919 was passed in 1919 by the Imperial Legislative Council.
• It had authorized the British government to arrest anybody suspected of terrorist activities.
• It also authorized the government to detain such people arrested for up to 2 years without trial.
• It empowered the police to search a place without a warrant. It also placed severe restrictions on the freedom of the press.
• The primary intention of colonial govt. was to repress the growing nationalist movement in the country.
• The British were also afraid of a Ghadarite Revolution in Punjab and the rest of the country.

1. The day

• The massacre took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army (Gurkha and Sikh infantry regiments) under the command of Col. Reginald Dyer fired rifles into a crowd of Indians.
• The civilians had assembled for a peaceful protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
• Dyer without warning ordered his troops to fire at the unarmed crowd which included children as well.
• The indiscriminate firing went on for about 10 minutes which resulted in the deaths of at least 1000 people and injured more than 1500 people.

1. Aftermath

• In protest against the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood.
• Gandhiji relinquished his title ‘Kaiser-e-hind’ bestowed on him by the British for his services during the Boer War in South Africa.
• Michael O’Dwyer, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, who had approved the actions of Dyer, was assassinated by Udham Singh in London in 1940 as revenge against the massacre.
• The heroic treatment of Dyer’s heinous act again set a benchmark of colonial arrogance.

Hunter Commission for Inquiry

• In October 1919 the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, ordered the formation of a committee of inquiry into the events in Punjab.
• Referred to as the Disorders Inquiry Committee, it was later more widely known as the Hunter Commission (Not to be confused with Hunter Education Commission).
• The commission inquiry was concluded without any significant conclusion.
• Still, there are long-standing demands in India that Britain should apologize for the massacre.

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