200px, Chauri Chaura Martyrs Memorial, alt= The Chauri Chaura incident took place on 4 February 1922 ( according to the Indian government's official data ) at
Chauri Chaura
Chauri Chaura (''Pargana:'' Haveli, Tehsil: Gorakhpur) is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The town is located at a distance of 16km from Gorakhpur, on the State Highway between Gorakhpur and Deoria. The town railway station is loc ...
, in the
Gorakhpur district
Gorakhpur district is one of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. This district is a part of the Gorakhpur division. The city of Gorakhpur, or Gorakhpur is the administrative headquarters of this district and Gorakhpur divi ...
, in the
United Provinces (now
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
), in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. The police there fired upon a large group of protesters participating in the
Non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. . In retaliation, the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, which killed all of its occupants. The incident led to the death of three civilians and 22 policemen.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
halted the Non-Cooperation Movement on the national level on 12 February 1922 as a direct result of the incident. In spite of Gandhi's decision, 19 arrested demonstrators were sentenced to death and 14 to life imprisonment by the British colonial authorities.
Background
From 1920 onwards,
Indians, led by
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, were engaged in a nationwide
non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. . Using non-violent methods of civil disobedience known as
Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
, protests were organised by the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
to challenge oppressive government regulatory measures such as the
Rowlatt Act
The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a law that applied in British India. It was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919, indefinitel ...
, with the ultimate goal of attaining ''
Swaraj
Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...
'' (home rule).
The incident
Two days before the incident, on 2 February 1922, volunteers participating in the
non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. led by a retired soldier of the
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
named
Bhagwan Ahir, protested against high
food prices
Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food.
Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing ...
and liquor sales at Gauri Bazaar. The demonstrators were beaten back by the local ''Daroga'' (inspector) Gupteshwar Singh and other police officers. Several of the leaders were arrested and put in the lock-up at the
Chauri Chaura
Chauri Chaura (''Pargana:'' Haveli, Tehsil: Gorakhpur) is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The town is located at a distance of 16km from Gorakhpur, on the State Highway between Gorakhpur and Deoria. The town railway station is loc ...
police station. In response to this, a protest against the police was called on 4 February, to be held at the Bazaar.
['' Event, Metaphor, Memory'' – Chauri Chaura 1922–92 by Shahid Amin]
On 4 February, approximately 2,000 to 2,500 protesters assembled and began marching towards the market lane at Chauri Chaura. They had gathered to picket the ''Gauri Bazaar Liquor Shop''. Armed police were dispatched to control the situation while the protesters marched towards the Bazaar, shouting anti-British slogans. In an attempt to frighten and disperse the crowd, Gupteshwar Singh ordered his 13 local police officers to fire warning shots into the air. This only agitated the crowd who began to throw stones at the police.
[
With the situation getting out of control, the sub-inspector Prithvi Pal ordered the police to open fire on the advancing crowd, killing three and wounding several others. Reports vary on the reason for the police retreat, with some suggesting that the constables ran out of ammunition while others claimed that the crowd's unexpectedly assertive reaction to the gunfire was the cause. In the ensuing chaos, the heavily outnumbered police fell back to the shelter of the police ''chowki'' while the angry mob advanced. Infuriated by the gunfire into their ranks, the crowd set the '' chowki'' ablaze, killing all of the policemen trapped inside, including Inspector Gupteshwar Singh.]
The following are the names of the senior officers, constables and ''chaukidars'' (government watchmen) who were killed in the incident:
#Inspector Gupteshwar Singh
#Sub-Inspector Prithvi Pal
#Constable Bashir Khan
#Constable Kapil Dev Singh
#Constable Lakhai Singh
#Constable Raghuvir Singh
#Chaukidar Visheshwar Singh
#Constable Mohammed Khan
#Constable Hasan Khan
#Constable Gadabaksh Khan
#Constable Jama Khan
#Chaukidar Manglu Chaubey
#Constable Rambali Pandey
#Constable Kapil Dev
#Constable Indrasan Singh
#Constable Ramlakhan Singh
#Constable Mardana Khan
#Constable Jagdev Singh
#Constable Jaigai Singh
#Chaukidar Wazir
#Chaukidar Ghisai Ram
#Chaukidar Katwaru Ram
One ''chaukidar'' named Jathai Ram was thrown into the burning station by the mob but he was able to survive. He had several burn injuries. When the regional Police Commissioner arrived after the incident, he ordered Jathai to be taken to hospital where he later died.
Most victims were burned to death, although several appear to have been killed by the crowd at the entrance to the chowki and their bodies thrown back into the fire. The death count is reported in the literature as either 22 or 23 policemen by different accounts, possibly because of ignoring or counting the subsequent death of Jathai Ram.[
]
Aftermath
In response to the killing of the police, the British colonial authorities declared martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
in and around Chauri Chaura. Several raids were conducted and hundreds of people were arrested.
Appalled at the outrage, Gandhi went on a five-day fast as penance for what he perceived as his culpability in the bloodshed.[ In reflection, Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging people to revolt against the British colonial government without sufficiently emphasizing the importance of '']ahimsa
Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India ...
'' (non-violence) and without adequately training the people to exercise restraint in the face of attack. He decided that the Indian people were ill-prepared and not yet ready to do what was needed to achieve independence. Gandhi was also arrested and sentenced to six years of imprisonment but was later released in February 1924, on grounds of his ill health.[
On 12 February 1922, the ]Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
halted the non-cooperation movement on the national level as a direct result of the Chauri Chaura tragedy.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
and most of the workers of the Congress, who were in prison when Gandhi took this decision, felt that this was a hasty and incorrect decision at a time when the nation was reaching the epoch of support for the Indian independence movement. A few months after this withdrawal, the colonial government arrested Gandhi and put him in Jail.
Trial and conviction
A total of 225 people were brought to trial at Gorakhpur Sessions Court of Judge H. E. Holmes, on charges of "rioting and arson" in conjunction with the Chauri Chaura affair.[M.N. Roy, "Legal Murder in India," ''International Press Correspondence,'' vol. 3, no. 9 (24 January 1923). Reprinted in G. Adhikari (ed.), ''Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India: Volume 2, 1923–1925.'' New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1974; pp. 62–64.] Of these, six died while in police custody, two were sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment, while 170 were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, while 47 were acquitted on 9 January 1923, following a trial which lasted eight months.[
A storm of protest erupted over the verdicts, which were characterised as "legalised murder" by Indian Communist leader M.N. Roy,][ who called for a ]general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
of Indian workers.
On 30 April 1923, The Allahabad High Court pronounced the final judgements in the case, after appeals had been considered:
*The (19) people who were sentenced to hanging were Nazar Ali, Bhagwan Ahir, Lal Mohammed, Shyamsundar, Abdullah, Dudhi Singh, Kali Charan, Lauti Kumar, Mahadev Singh, Meghu Ali, Raghuvir, Ramlakhan, Ramroop, Sahdev, Rudali, Mohan, Sampat, Shyam Sundar and Sitaram.
*14 people were sentenced to life imprisonment.
*19 people were sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment.
*57 people were sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment.
*20 people were sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment.
*3 people to 2 years' imprisonment.
*38 people were acquitted.
*The 19 defendants condemned to death were hanged between 2 and 11 July 1923.
Memorial
*A memorial to the dead policemen was dedicated by the British colonial authorities in 1923.[ Following independence, the words '']Jai Hind
Jai Hind (, , ) is a salutation and slogan that originally meant "Victory to Hindustan", and in contemporary colloquial usage often means "Long live India" or "Salute to India". Coined by Champakaraman Pillai and used during India's independen ...
''[ were added to it, as well as a verse by poet Jagdamba Prasad Mishra which is made famous by revolutionary poet ]Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil ( Hindi: राम प्रसाद "बिस्मिल") (11 June 1897 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian poet, writer, revolutionary and an Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, a ...
. The verse reads: ' ("On the pyres of martyrs, there will be fairs every year").[
*The people of the district did not forget the 19 persons tried and executed after the Chauri Chaura incident. In 1971, they formed an association named ''Chauri Chaura Shaheed Smarak Samiti''. In 1973, this Samiti constructed near the lake at Chauri Chaura a triangular minaret on each side of which a figure is depicted hanging with a noose round his neck. The minaret was built at a cost of Rs 13,500 contributed by popular subscription.]
*Later another Shaheed Smarak (now the main one) was built by the Government of India to honour those hanged after the incident. This tall memorial has names of those executed engraved upon it. A library and museum related to the independence struggle has been set up near the memorial.
*Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
have named a train to honour those executed after the Chauri Chaura incident. The train is named Chauri Chaura Express, which runs from Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...
to Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
.
References
14 ^ Narayan, Badri (14 November 2006). Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics
External links
A Complete Portal of Chauri Chaura describing the history of Chauri Chaura incident
{{Gandhi
1922 protests
Indian independence movement
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
1922 in India
Protests in British India
Mass murder in 1922
Massacres in India
Conflicts in 1922
Indian independence movement in Uttar Pradesh
1922 murders in India
February 1922 events
Attacks on police stations
Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1920s