Jallianwala Bagh Massacre observed on April 13

Key facts

• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred on April 13, 1919, in Amritsar, Punjab, during the Baisakhi festival.
• The British colonial government had implemented the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, infamously known as the Rowlatt Act or the Black Act.
• The Government of India Act 1919 introduced the system of dyarchy in the provinces, retaining key powers like military and finance under British control.
• The arrest and deportation of local leaders Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal to Dharamshala on April 10, 1919, triggered widespread protests.
• General Reginald Dyer ordered 50 soldiers armed with .303 Lee-Enfield rifles to fire 1,650 rounds into a crowd of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 people.
• The British government appointed the Disorders Inquiry Committee, commonly known as the Hunter Commission, to investigate the massacre.
• The Indian National Congress (INC) conducted an independent inquiry led by Madan Mohan Malaviya and Motilal Nehru.
• The Hunter Commission official report stated 379 deaths, while the INC inquiry estimated the death toll to be over 1,000.
• In protest against the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore renounced his Knighthood in a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford.
• Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920 as a direct response to the British actions in Punjab.
• Udham Singh assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab who sanctioned the action, at Caxton Hall in London in 1940.
• On April 19, 1919, General Dyer implemented the crawling order, forcing Indians to crawl on hands and knees through a specific street in Amritsar.