Chauri Chaura Incident on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
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, in the Gorakhpur district, 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 195 ...
), 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.Mahatma Gandhi 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, were engaged in a nationwidenon-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.Satyagraha, protests were organised by the
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
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 E ...
to challenge oppressive government regulatory measures such as the Rowlatt Act, 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 thenon-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.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 cou ...
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 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
''Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922-1992'' is a 1995 book by Shahid Amin. A Professor of History at Delhi University, Amin was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford, Princeton, and Berlin. He also authored Sugarcane and Sugar in Gorakhpur ( ...
'' – 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 declaredmartial 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
Martia ...
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'' (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 E ...
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 nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India du ...
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 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. 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 tota ...
have named a train to honour those executed after the Chauri Chaura incident. The train is named Chauri Chaura Express
The 15003 / 04 Kanpur–Gorakhpur Chauri Chaura Express is an Express train belonging to Indian Railways – North Eastern Railway zone that runs between & in India.
It operates as train number 15003 from Kanpur Anwarganj to Gorakhpur Juncti ...
, which runs from Gorakhpur to Kanpur.
References
14 ^ Narayan, Badri (14 November 2006). Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and PoliticsExternal 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