The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, where, on April 13, 1919, British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted about 10 minutes and 1600 rounds were fired. Official sources placed the casualties at 379. According to private sources, the number was over 1000, with more than 2000 wounded, and Civil Surgeon Dr. Smith indicated that they were over 1800.
On April 13, thousands of people gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh near Amritsar. The occasion was Baisakhi, a Sikh religious festival. It was traditional for Hindus and Sikhs to gather in Amritsar to participate in the Baisakhi celebrations.
A group of Indian Army soldiers consisting of 90 soldiers marched to the park accompanied by two armored cars. The vehicles were unable to enter the Bagh through the narrow entrance. The bagh, or garden, was bounded on all sides by brick walls and buildings and had only five narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked. Since there was only one exit except for the one already manned by the troops, people desperately tried to climb the walls of the park. Many of the people jumped into a well inside the compound to escape from the bullets. A plaque in the monument says that 120 bodies were plucked out of the well alone.
As a result of the firing, hundreds of people were killed and thousands were injured. Official estimates put the figures at 379 killed (337 men, 41 boys and a six week old baby) and 200 injured, though the actual figure is hotly disputed to this day and many Indian sources put it much higher (see above); the wounded could not be moved from where they had fallen, as a curfew had been declared.
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| Jallianwala Bagh 1919 |
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Back in his headquarters Dyer reported to his superiors that he had been “confronted by a revolutionary army,” and had been obliged “to teach a moral lesson to the Punjab.”
In a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’ Dwyer wrote: “Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves.” Many Englishmen in India, as well as the British press, defended Dyer as the man who had saved British pride and honor. The Morning Post opened a fund for Dyer, and contributions poured in. An American woman donated 100 pounds, adding “I fear for the British women there now that Dyer has been dismissed.”
O’ Dwyer requested that martial law be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas; this was granted by the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre.
Dyer was called to appear before the Hunter Commission, a commission of inquiry into the massacre that was ordered to convene by Secretary of State for India Edwin Montagu, in late 1919. Dyer admitted before the commission that he came to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh at 12:40 hours that day but took no steps to prevent it. He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there.
“I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself.” — Dyer’s response to the Hunter Commission Enquiry.
Dyer said he would have used his machine guns if he could have got them into the enclosure, but these were mounted on armored cars. He said he did not stop firing when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep firing until the crowd dispersed, and that a little firing would do no good.
He confessed that he did not take any steps to tend to the wounded after the firing. “Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there,” was his response.
Reaction
In the storm of outrage which followed the release of the Hunter Report in 1920, Dyer was placed on the inactive list and his rank reverted to Colonel since he was no longer in command of a Brigade. The then Commander-in-Chief stated that Dyer would no longer be offered employment in India. Dyer was also in very poor health, and so he was sent home to England on a hospital ship.
Some senior British officers applauded his suppression of “another Indian Mutiny”. The House of Lords passed a measure commending him. The House of Commons, however, censured him; in the debate Winston Churchill claimed: “The incident in Jallian Wala Bagh was an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation”. Dyer’s action was condemned worldwide. He was officially censured by the British Government and resigned in 1920.
However, many in Britain did not condemn Dyer’s actions, some labeling him the “Saviour of the Punjab”. The Morning Post started a sympathy fund for Dyer and received over £26,000. Dyer was presented with a memorial book inscribed with the names of well-wishers.
In India the massacre evoked feelings of deep anguish and anger. It catalyzed the freedom movement in the Punjab against British rule. It was also motivation for a number of other revolutionaries, including Bhagat Singh. The Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood to the King-Emperor in protest. The massacre ultimately became an important catalyst of the Indian independence movement.
On 13 March 1940 an Indian revolutionary from Sunam, named Udham Singh, who had witnessed the events in Amritsar and was himself wounded, shot dead Sir Michael O’Dwyer, believed to be the chief planner of the massacre (Dyer having died years earlier in 1927) at the Caxton Hall in London. However, Udham Singh was hanged for the murder on July 31, 1940. At that time, many, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, condemned the action of Udham as senseless.