Continued from Part 1
Standing amidst the vast structure of the cellular jail in Andamans, is an ancient Peepul - a mute witness to the untold sufferings and sacrifices made by our countrymen and women for the cause of India’s independence. In 1998, this tree was uprooted in a storm, but it was luckily saved and re-planted at the same spot.
Now why was the Cellular Jail built by the Colonial British? This was basically to incarcerate the teeming revolutionaries who fought for freedom in every way they knew, threatening the imperialism . They were transported from different parts of India to undergo solitary confinement and do inhuman work.
The first to be transported included people tried in the Alipore (Ghose, Das, Dutta) case & followed by the Nashik (the Savarkar brothers’) conspiracy cases. In fact, Veer Savarkar served 27 years in the Cellular Jail & was not even aware that his brother too was in the same hellhole. Savarkar spent 10 years in a solitary cell at the far end of a long corridor on the third floor.
During 1909-21, a large number of Gadar heroes of the first Lahore Conspiracy case were transported to the Cellular Jail. It was David Barry, head overseer who made the life of the revolutionaries miserable and horrible. With a very twisted mindset to met out torture in multiple ways, he ensured it was always a do or die situation for the inmates.
During the Malabar Rebellion movement of 1921, many Mopahlas with some of their families were transported to the Cellular Jail. Later they were given farm tickets and allowed to settle in these islands
It was during 1933 when new political prisoners came to Andaman Jail & went on strike for better conditions in this inhuman jail. This was followed by more hunger strikes and continued till 1937 but later called off after long discussions with national leaders.
Although many people went back to the mainland, many from different parts of India settled down in these islands which was so far off from the mainland.
However, there was no end to their sufferings when the local born along with those who settled here had to bear the Japanese invasion in 1939. The British, unable to defend this invasion, had to flee for their lives.
The settlers were punished, tortured and killed by the Japanese for no reason for more than three years.
The arrested people were housed in the sixth wing of the Cellular Jail and tortured day and night by the Japanese and suspected spies were shot dead at various placed in the island. This episode is known as the Homfreyganj massacre and most of the people who were shot dead belonged to the Indian Independence league.
It was on 30th December, 1943 that Netaji Subash Chandra Bose who unfurled the Indian national flag for the first time on Indian soil in the Andaman Islands.
After the surrender of Japanese forces in 1945, the British once again occupied the island but totally abolished the penal settlement.
However, the remnants of their barbarity and inhuman torture of freedom fighters can still be seen today in the Cellular Jail.
Do not miss this “freedom monument” if you visit Andaman Islands as the spirit of the freedom fighters still lingers on.
And one can feel their unbelievable sacrifices to gain freedom for their motherland as we go from the first to the third wing of the Cellular Jail. Don’t miss the light and sound show that highlights the sacrifices made by freedom fighters as this has not been written in any of the prescribed school text books.
