Chauri Chaura incident
26°38′34″N 83°35′23″E / 26.64283758611251°N 83.58969448910848°E The Chauri Chaura Incident took place on 4 February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur district of United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) in British India. The police there fired upon a large group of protesters participating in the Non-cooperation movement. In retaliation, the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, which killed all of its occupants. The incident led to the death of three civilians and 23 policemen. Mahatma Gandhi halted the Non-Cooperation Movement on the national level on 12 February 1922 as a direct result of the incident. 19 arrested demonstrators were sentenced to death and 14 to life imprisonment by the British colonial authorities.
Chauri Chaura Incident
Chauri Chaura police station burnt down with all occupants killed
Background[edit]
From 1920 onwards, Indians, led by Mahatma Gandhi, were engaged in a nationwide non-cooperation movement. Using non-violent methods of civil disobedience known as Satyagraha, protests were organised by the Indian National Congress to challenge oppressive government regulatory measures such as the Rowlatt Act, with the ultimate goal of attaining Swaraj (home rule). Most of the wrestlers involved in this were Ahirs such as Vikram Ahir, Neur Ahir, Sahuakot Ahir etc.[1]
Aftermath[edit]
In response to the killing of the police, the British colonial authorities declared martial law in and around Chauri Chaura. Several raids were conducted and hundreds of people were arrested.
Appalled at the outrage, Gandhi went on a five-day fast as penance for what he perceived as his culpability in the bloodshed.[4] In reflection, Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging people to revolt against the British colonial government without sufficiently emphasizing the importance of ahimsa (non-violence) and without adequately training the people to exercise restraint in the face of attack.[6] He decided that the Indian people were ill-prepared and not yet ready to do what was needed to achieve independence. Gandhi was also arrested and sentenced to six years of imprisonment but was later released in February 1924, on grounds of his ill health.[5]
On 12 February 1922, the Indian National Congress halted the non-cooperation movement on the national level as a direct result of the Chauri Chaura tragedy.[7]
Jawaharlal Nehru and most of the workers of the Congress, who were in prison when Gandhi made this decision, felt that this was a hasty and incorrect decision at a time when the nation was reaching the epoch of support for the Indian independence movement. A few months after this withdrawal, the colonial government arrested Gandhi and put him in Jail.[8]
A total of 225 people were brought to trial at Gorakhpur Sessions Court of Judge H. E. Holmes, on charges of "rioting and arson" in conjunction with the Chauri Chaura affair.[9] Of these, six died while in police custody, two were sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment, 170 were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging while 47 were acquitted on 9 January 1923, following a trial which lasted eight months.[9]
A storm of protest erupted over the verdicts, which were characterised as "legalised murder" by Indian communist leader M. N. Roy,[9] who called for a general strike of Indian workers.[10]
On 30 April 1923, the High Court of Allahabad pronounced the final judgements in the case, after appeals had been considered regarding the 170 convicted accused, who had been awarded death sentences:
1. Nazar Ali,
2. Bhagwan Ahir,
3. Lal Mohammad,
4. Shyamsundar,
5. Abdullah,
6. Vikram Ahir,
7. Dudhi Singh,
8. Kali Charan,
9. Lauti Kumar,
10. Mahadev Singh,
11. Meghu Ali,
12. Raghuvir,
13. Ramlakhan,
14. Ramroop,
15. Sahdev,
16. Rudali,
17. Mohan,
18. Sampat and
19. Sitaram.