IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

13th April, 2021 History

Context: PM pays tribute to martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

About Jallianwala Bagh massacre:

  • It is also known as the Amritsar massacre.
  • It took place on 13 April 1919, when Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians.
  • On Sunday, 13 April 1919, Dyer, convinced a major insurrection could take place, banned all meetings.
  • This notice was not widely disseminated, and many villagers gathered in the Bagh to celebrate the important Hindu and Sikh festival of Baisakhi, and peacefully protest the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
  • Dyer and his troops entered the garden, blocking the main entrance behind them, took up position on a raised bank, and with no warning opened fire on the crowd for about ten minutes, directing their bullets largely towards the few open gates through which people were trying to flee, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted.
  • The Hunter Commission report published the following year by the Government of India criticised both Dyer personally and also the Government of the Punjab for failing to compile a detailed casualty count, and quoted a figure offered by the Sewa Samati (a Social Services Society) of 379 identified dead, and approximately 1,200 wounded, of whom 192 were seriously injured.
  • This incident shocked Rabindranath Tagore (the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate) to such an extent that he renounced his knighthood.
  • Britain never formally apologised for the massacre but expressed "regret" in 2019.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1711275