Andaman Islands – The Capital of Indian Freedom Movement

Penal Settlement at Andaman Islands

Penal colony prisoners in 1880

After the First War of Independence in 1857, 200 aggressive and revolutionary freedom fighters were transported (literally exiled) to the Andaman Islands.  They arrived at the Islands on 10^th March 1858. They were kept in Chatham Island in the open prison. That marked the beginning of the penal settlement in Andamans by the British.  All life and long-term prisoners, from eighteen to forty years of age, who on some grounds have escaped the death penalty in India and Burma, were selected for imprisonment in the penal settlement of the Andaman Islands.  This was also popularly called ‘Kala Pani’ (Black Water).

Four days after their first landing on the island, one of the convicts, Narain (Bihar), who had been convicted for sedition, tried to escape but was caught and shot dead. Another prisoner, Naringun Singh (Punjab), who was a deserter, committed suicide by hanging.  86 prisoners who tried to escape were caught by the Britishers and all of them were summarily put to death by hanging on a single day.

As the settlement grew, "hardened criminals" from undivided India and Burma were also brought in. The 'hard labour' of chain gangs quickly produced the necessary infrastructure. Palatial bungalows for the administrators and barracks for the prisoners, jail and formidable gallows sprung up on Ross and Viper Islands between 1864 and 1867. A saw-mill on the Chatham Island supplied the timber.

The location where Lord Mayo was assassinated

The Viceroy of United India, Lord Mayo, who was on tour at Andaman, paid a visit to the settlement. Sher Ali, serving the Life Sentence stabbed the Viceroy to death on 8^th February, 1872. He was arrested immediately and hanged.  In the Indian freedom movement, this is the only incident where a sitting Viceroy was assassinated. With the freedom movement picking up momentum, the number of freedom fighters sentenced to transportation also increased. The need arose for a high security jail that could hold a large number in solitary confinement.

Cellular Jail

The construction of Cellular Jail started in 1896 and completed in 1906. Spread as seven spokes of a bicycle wheel, this unique three-storied structure was the first of its kind in India as it had 693 cells specially built for solitary confinement of the prisoners. Extraordinary feature of the Jail was the total absence of communication between prisoners housed in different wings since front of the row of cells faced the back of the other. The cost of construction at that time was Rs.5.17 lakhs.

Cellular Jail – Main entrance

A two-storied building on the left side near the entrance of the Jail was constructed to be used as the Jail hospital. On the plinth of this building now stands the Martyr's Column. Near the compound wall at the right of the main entrance is the gallows where three persons could be executed simultaneously with a separate door in the outer compound wall to carry the corpses.

A model of the Cellular Jail with seven wings

Many charismatic freedom fighters were imprisoned in this Jail. Savarkar brothers, Hotilal Verma, Babu Ram Hari, Pandit Parmanand, Ladha Ram, Ullaskar Dutt, Barin Kumaar Ghosh, Bhai Parmanand, Indu Bhushan Roy, Prithvi Singh Azad, Pulin Das, Trailokyanath Chakravarthy, Gurumukh Singh, etc. were incarcerated here among others. Revolutionaries involved in Alipore Bomb case, Nasik Conspiracy Case, Lahore Conspiracy Case, Chittagong Armoury Raid Case, Inter-Provincial Conspiracy Case, Gaya Conspiracy Case were also brought to the Cellular Jail under long terms of imprisonment.

The Cellular Jail is the most prominent landmark of Port Blair and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The first stop for any dignitary visiting the Islands is the Martyrs Memorial inside the Jail. Many familiar with the history of the freedom struggle are moved to tears at the sight of the Chain fetter, Cross Bar fetter, Bar fetter, flogging frame with whipping, Jute uniform, oil extraction, Coir pounding to extract coir from coconut husk and the other instruments of torture on display in the Jail Museum. A 'must' on the itinerary of all tourists is the 'Sound & Light Show' every evening, which brings to life a dark chapter in the history of the Islands as a penal settlement. (Now stopped for some time for upgradation.)

Instruments of torture

The Jail celebrated its centenary on March 10, 2006. It has been a long journey for the Jail - from a torture machine to a National Memorial, 

from a dreaded prison to a place of patriotic pilgrimage, a place where the memories of brave freedom fighters are revived and patriotic fervour surges through the veins of the visitors.  

Outer and inner A view of the Cell

Today, the entrance block of the National Memorial houses Freedom Fighters Photos and Exhibition Gallery is on the ground floor. The first floor of the building has an Art Gallery, Netaji Gallery and a Library on freedom movement. A gallery on the  First War of Independence and another gallery with rare collection of old photographs has also been set up on the premises. An eternal Flame "Freedom-Swatantrya Jyot" has been erected in the vicinity of the Cellular Jail in memory of all freedom fighters and martyrs.

Structure

Each of the seven wings has three stories upon completion. There are no dormitories with a total of 696 cells. Each cell is 13.6 ft × 7.6 ft in size with a ventilator located at a height of 7 ft.  The 

name, "Cellular Jail", derived from the solitary cells which prevented any prisoner from communicating with any other.  Also, the spokes were so designed such that the face of a cell in a spoke saw the back of cells in another spoke. This way, communication between prisoners was impossible. They were all in solitary confinement. The locks of the prison cells were designed in such a way that the inmate would never be able to reach the latch of the lock.

Gallows – Top: Place for ritual before execution | Bottom right: Execution chamber | Bottom left: Place for dead body after execution

Prison conditions

Conditions faced by prisoners in the Cellular Jail were horrible. They faced torture, medical tests, forced labour and for many, death.  In response to poor conditions in the Cellular Jail, including the quality of prison food, numerous prisoners went on hunger strikes. Those who did were often force-fed by the prison authorities.  It is also said that many of them died due to force feeding.

Andaman Island served as the ideal place for the British Government to isolate the aggressive and revolutionary freedom fighters from the rest of the society. These people were kept in solitary confinement in the Cellular Jail.

Massacre of 44 ILL Members

During the World War II, in 1942, Japan took over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Britishers left. Netaji Subash Chandra Bose arrived at Port Blair and hoisted the Indian Tri Colour in Dec. 1943 at Cellular Jail. After Bhose had left, on 30 January 1944, 44 Indians, the members of the Indian Independence League (ILL), were wrongly accused of spying and shot by the Japanese Army in what was known as the Homfraygunj Massacre.

After the end of World War II, Japan surrendered to the British Army and the British re-occupied the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  During this period of three years, Japan had committed more atrocities.

Cellular Jail was made a National Monument by Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1979.  The Airport is named after Veer Savarkar. Ross Island is named after Netaji Subash Chandra Bose by Prime Minister Modi.  Also the 21 unnamed Islands were named after Param Vir Chakra recipients in Jan 2023 by Prime Minister Modi.  

Just like every Indian makes a spiritual pilgrimage to Kasi, Mecca and Jerusalem, they should also make a ‘Patriotic Pilgrimage’ to the Andaman Islands and pay homage to the great freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for our Independence. 

Source: This was the cover story published in Jan 2023 edition of PreSense