the cellular jail

(The Guantanamo Bay of British India)CELLULAR JAIL

A Presentation by Jacob George MichaelThis presentation was made on the 6th of September 2016 in honor of those who sacrificed their lives inside this cruel penitentiary . My Email: [email protected],

The Cellular Jail, situated in South Andaman is a Indian National Monument as declared by Prime Minister Morarji Desai on February 11, 1979. Today it that stands as the symbol of extreme cruel oppression of the Political prisoners & freedom fighters of British India. The construction of this institution of torture and solitary confinement for life, started in the year 1896 and was completed by 1906. The building was a puce coloured one, with the bricks for the construction, being brought from Burma. The construction was undertaken by the detainees themselves, under supervision of the British. It cost around Rs. 5.17 lakh to the British rulers. During the Japanese occupation, two wings of the jail were demolished. Two more were pulled down after Independence.

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The Cellular Jail, also known as ‘KALA PANI’( name derived from Sanskrit words 'Kal' which means ‘Time’ or ‘Death’ and 'Pani' which means Water). The Cellular Jail got its name from the 698 cells in 7 wings of various lengths, all radiating from a center Watch Tower, like the spokes of a wheel, which prevented the inmates from communicating to each other. Each cell was 14.8 X 8.9 ft, with a ventilator at an height of 9.8 feet. The cells were not provided with urinal or lavatory facilities. The inmates were given clay pots to be used as urinals in the night. The knowledge of treatment meted out to human lives inside this building, is one that will fan hatred for the British, even today.

Arial view of the Cellular Jail as seen today



It was after the ‘First war of Indian Independence in 1857, that the British thought of a place to dump Indian political prisoners and freedom fighters, who survived the war and the systematic elimination carried out by them. The first batch of 200 prisoners were brought into Andaman, under the control of jailer David Barry and Major James Pattison Walker. By late 19th century, as the independence movement picked up, it became necessary for the British to build a high security prison. The concept of the Cellular Jail, thus came into being.

Main entrance of the Cellular Jail



. The face of every cell opened at the back of other cells so as to prevent interaction between detainees

It was on the recommendation of Charles James Lyall who served as home secretary in the British Raj government, and A S Lethbridge, a surgeon in the British administration who, on their appointment as men in charge of searching for a penal settlement in Port Blair, concluded that the punishment of transportation of detainees to the Andaman Islands was failing to achieve the purpose intended and that a “severe penal stage" should exist in the transportation sentence, whereby transported prisoners will be subjected to a period of harsh treatment upon arrival. The outcome was the construction of the Cellular Jail, which has been described as "a place of exclusion and isolation” by the cruel British.



This island penitentiary was a place that involved activities like inhuman torture, medical tests, forced labour and, for many, death. Inmates were treated to unimaginable acts of forced feeding through the nostrils and the rectum. Flogging was a day to day activity the British enjoyed with great enthusiasm. When some needed medical aid for fevers, the duty doctors signed papers stating that they were fit enough to be flogged.



Some inmates ended up chained like bullocks to oil mills, grinding mustard seed, around and around for hours on end.



Various articles used as uniforms and as hand and leg cuffs.



Those inmates who refused to submit to hard labour were publically flogged in full view of other inmates.



The interior of these cells are witness to life in extreme torture, pain and slow death.



A closer view of the cells were hundred of life were sacrificed at the alter of India’s Freedom from the inhumane and cruel British Monarchy. Indians were treated as secondhand citizens in their own country by the savage British.



THE GALLOWS WERE MANY LIVES ENDED AFTER INHUMANE TROTURE



A GENERAL VIEW OF THE CELLS IN ONE THE WINGS INSIDE WHICH MANY INDIAN LIVES FELL APART



A VIEW OF WATCH TOWER FROM OUTSIDE ONE OF THE WINGS



THE WATCH TOWER GIVES A CLEAR VIEW OF THE AREA IN BETWEEN THE WINGS



THE CORRIDORS OF LIFE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, TORTURE, PAIN & DEATH



THE SIGN BOARD SAYS IT ALL. LET’S JUST PRAY A WHILE FOR THOSE MANY LIVES.



NAMES OF CELLULAR JAIL’S POLITICAL PRISONERS, MANY OF WHOM, COME FROM PUNJAB & BENGAL, ARE INSCRIBED ON THE WALLS OF THE TOWER TODAY.



The Cellular Jail today remains as the right epitaph for one of the worst indignities the wicked and cruel British, inflicted upon India and its gallant freedom fighters.

The inhuman physical and mental tortures on these brave men, failed to deter them from their grim resolve to free their motherland.

These brave hearts were made to work hours on the grinding mill, to standing handcuffed for a week, to bar-fetters for six months, to confinement in solitary cells, to four days of starvation diet and to cross bars for ten days.

Work on the oil grinding mill was all the more terrible and caused several deaths. Often the prisoners became breathless, with their tongues parched up, limbs numb, hands bruised and the brain reeling. And their crime? They loved their motherland.

It was jailer David Barry who was ordained to suppress Britain’s enemies with vile abuse and crude violence. But he had to pay for his sins. Terminally ill, he was sent to Calcutta somewhere in mid-1920s, never to reach England.

Today the Cellular Jail has been nominated by Govt of India, to be recognized as a ‘WORLD HERITAGE MONUMENT’ by UNESCO.



Dear friends,It is upon the sacrifices of these brave men, and men like Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, that we live in a nation of our own. Though not totally free of bondage from a cunning British monarchy, we still need to preserve our unity at all costs. We cannot afford to tolerate our enemies, destroy the unity and integrity of our Mother land. As FIREBRAND PATRIOTS of our beloved nation, let us pledge to ever remain vigilant to identify and destroy our nations enemies, without any consideration or mercy.

JAI HIND


the cellular jail

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