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Felicitations
The idea was conceived and organised by the Lt.Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Shri Iswari Prasad Gupta, to invite and honour all the freedom fighters who were locked up in the Cellular Jail from different parts of the country. It gave an opportunity to those worthy sons of India to revisit the very jail where they spent years of their youth, suffering untold inhuman tortures for the sake of their motherland. Imprisoned in the Cellular Jail, the Indian Bastile for varying periods between 1910-1945 ,these heroes of the freedom struggle were driven by intense love for their motherland.
Guru Rabindra Nath once observed: Òdeath is
the true touchstone of genuine love. The only real test of such love is
whether you are prepared to die for the sake of the object of your loveÓ.
It is beyond doubt that the political prisoners in the Cellular Jail successfully
passed the supreme test. They were not only prepared, but also eager to
die. Inhuman physical and mental tortures failed to deter them from their
grim resolve to free their motherland.
Torture Cells
As the proud freedom fighters who assembled in Port Blair, would recount punishments given to them, it ranged from extra 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 a punishment which compelled the victim to keep his legs apart. 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.
The history of Cellular Jail is replete with such
charismatic personalities like great Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother
Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, Nani Gopal Mukherjee, Nand Kumar, Putin Das, Bhai
Paramanand, Prithvi Singh Azad, Trailakya Maharaj, Anata Singh and a host
of other revolutionary fighters. The list is long and distinguished.
Barry, the Notorious Jailer
These great men, convicted for trying to free their country from the British yoke, found themselves confronted among others by the notorious, cruel jailer David Barry who posed as if he was destinrd to suppress these enemies of British rule in India with vile abuse and crude violence.
Barin Ghosh in his memoirs has given the summary of a short speech delivery by this abominable custodian a as a welcome address to the newly arrived prisoners: He said,
"You see the wall around? Do you know why it is so low? Because it is impossible to escape from this place. The sea surrounds it for a distance of 1000 miles. In the forest you do not find any other animal than pigs and wild cats, it is true, but there are savages who are called Jarawas. If they happen to see any man, they do not hesitate to pierce him right through with their sharp arrows. And do you see me? My name is David Barry. I am the most obedient servant to the simple and straight forward, but to the crooked I am four times as crooked.
If you disobey me, may God help you, at least you will know me that is certain. Remember also that God does not come within three miles of Port Blair. The red turbans you see there, are warders. And those in black uniforms are petty officers. You must obey them, if they happen to molest you, inform me, I will punish them".
Upendra Nath Bandopadhyay refers to Mr. Barry as a Bull Dog in appearance who resembled one who was specially created by divine providence to keep prisoners under absolute control. Pointing to the jail building, he would say, "it is there we tame lions. You will meet your friend, but mind you, do not talk".
Savarkar refers to the familiar address of Barry
in the following words: "Listen, ye prisoners, in the Universe there is
one God and he lives in Heaven above. But in Port Blair there are two;
one the God of Heaven and another the God of Earth that is, myself. The
god of Heaven will reward you when you go above but this God of Port Blair
will reward you here and now. So ye prisoners, behave well. You may complain
to any superior against me, my word shall prevail; I hold my own".
Religious Divide
To add insult to injury Mr.Barry always tried to
create bitterness between the Hindu and the Muslim prisoners. Savarkar
referring to his early days in the Andamans, observes:"The man who ruled
the prison with an iron hand, who made the prisoners tremble in their shoes,
could not bear the slight to his authority by political prisoners like
us. Even the Jamadar dared pour foul abuse upon us and Mr.Barry had instigated
him to do so.The Jamadar and his lieutenant slapped us on the face if we
were found talking or had not finished our day"s work. And if we happened
to report the incident to the jailer, the latter would laugh outright on
his face".
Smaller Gods
In exercising full control over these prisoners and in instilling a sense of perpetual fear in them, the tyrant Mr.Barry was not alone. He was ably assisted by the similar smaller tyrants who worked under him as petty officers or Tindais or Jamadars.
Petty Officer Mirza Khan, a well built Pathan was adept in the art of beating and abusing convicts. At the instance of Mr.Barry or whenever he wanted to take revenge he would beat the convicts and harass them till they were completely crushed.
Barin Ghosh has given a life-like picture of these "smaller gods" that ruled the destiny of the political prisoners of the Andamans:
"In the Andamans it is they who are incharge of everything and have the authority. They are the bodyguards of the supreme lord, the jailer. And what perfect adepts they are in the art of beating and abusing!".
"Bakaulla is late in coming from the latrine, apply the baton and unloose the skin of his posterior". Such were the beautiful proceedings by which they maintain discipline in the prison.
In fact, the soul crushing indignities and tortures
knew no bound under ruthless Mr.Barry. Even the call of the nature would
need the Jailer"s permission who would most often growl, "Why the devil
did you have it? Any one who dared to reply would receive slaps in the
face. As Savarkar puts it: "Who can describe the suffering, these agonies
of mind and body". "Here", said Barin Ghosh, "there was no such thing as
gentleman, not even perhaps such a thing as man, here were only convicts".
National Memorial
The then Prime Minister of India, Shri Morarji Desai declared the Cellular Jail as a memorial to the nation on February 11, 1979. The Indian Bastile stands today as a mute witness to the hallowed memory of those gallant revolutionaries who made supreme sacrifices for the sake of their country.
As for Mr.David Barry, he had to pay for his sins.
Terminally ill, he was sent to Calcutta somewhere in mid-1920s, never to
reach England.
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