Kalapanir Karbas, know The Unknown Story Of The Inmates Of The Cellular Jail

BY A STAFF REPORTER: Many revolutionaries, freedom fighters gave their lives for the freedom of India. The British government inflicted untold atrocities on the Indians for the past 200 years.

The British went to extremes to oppress the Indians. It is also known that most of the prisoners committed suicide as they could not bear the torture. It is also known that many times the bodies of prisoners who died due to execution or other reasons were floated in the sea.

The British imprisoned the revolutionaries in cellular jails in the Andamans. Not only the prisoners, they were subjected to unspeakable physical torture. The feet of the prisoners were kept in chains. In addition, cigarette butts were also applied to the body. They were whipped. After torture they would have died.

History tells us that the standard of food allotted to the inmates of this jail was also very poor. Even in case of illness, there was not enough medicine. In protest, the prisoners sat on hunger strike in the jail.

The revolutionaries Satyendra Narayan Majumdar, Fazal-e-Haq Khayrabadi, Yogendra Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Vinayak Savarkar, Babarao Savarkar, Sachindranath Sanyal, Induvhushan Roy, Ullaskar Dutt, Harekrishna Konar, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan Singh, Subodh Roy, were imprisoned in this cellular jail. Trailokyanath Chakraborty, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Sher Ali Afridi and others.

Also, Mahavir Singh, Bhagat Singh were incarcerated in this jail in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Mohan Kishore Namadas, Mohit Maitra convicted in Arms Act case. They died due to force feeding.

The cells in the cellular gel were completely isolated from each other. It is known that the cells were constructed in such a way that no prisoner could see the face of another. As a result there was no way of communication between them. This is how the British government arranged 'Solitary Confinement'. In a word, this jail in Kalapani had perfect security of the British Government.

The structure of the prison was like a star sign. The prison building had seven wings. In the center was the tower. From where the guards kept watch. Like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, the branches spread out from the center. There were a total of 696 cells in the jail. Cells measuring 14.8 x 8.9 feet housed only one squirrel. That too at a height of 9.8 feet from the floor.

Historians said that there were at least 80,000 revolutionary prisoners in this prison. It is also known from history that the revolutionary Indubhushan Roy committed suicide by twisting a torn fatwa around his neck. Revolutionary cheerleader Dutt spent 14 years in a cellular jail. The persecuted revolutionary was afflicted with malaria. He was eventually placed in the lunatic ward of the prison. Finally after his release in 1920 he returned to Calcutta.