The Amritsar massacre, also known as the Jallianwala (also spelt
Jallianwalla) Bagh massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large,
peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar,
Punjab, British India, during the annual Baishakhi fair, to protest
against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of pro-independence
activists Saifuddin Kitchlu and Satyapal. In response to the public
gathering, the temporary brigadier general R. E. H. Dyer,
surrounded the people with his Gurkha, Baloch and the 59th
Scinde Rifles of the British Indian Army. The Jallianwala Bagh
could only be exited on one side, as buildings enclosed its other
three sides. After blocking the exit with his troops, he ordered them
to shoot at the crowd, continuing to fire even as the protestors tried
to flee. The troops kept on firing until their ammunition was
exhausted. Estimates of those killed vary from 379 to 1,500 or
more people and over 1,200 other people were injured of whom
192 were seriously injured.
Nearly three decades later, India broke free from British rule with
the violent partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Britain has never
formally apologised for the massacre but expressed "deep regret"
in 2019. The government of India ordered an investigation of the
incident (the Hunter Commission), which in 1920 convicted Dyer
for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military. Reaction
in Britain to the massacre was mixed, however.
In his official response to the Hunter commission that inquired into
the shooting, Dyer was unremorseful and stated: "I think it quite
possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing, but
they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have
made, what I consider, a fool of myself." Several thousand
unarmed civilians, including women and children, had gathered to
celebrate the Sikh New Year. Viewing the gathering as violating
the prohibitory orders on public assembly, General Dyer ordered
his troops to fire without warning, saying that they had been given
multiple warnings when in fact they hadn’t.