Cellular Jail Andaman / Image Credit
One of the main attractions of Port Blair, the capital of the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in India, is Cellular Jail, where Indian freedom fighters and revolutionaries were imprisoned during the Indian struggle for Independence. The jail was also known as Kālā Pānī, translating literally as “black waters”.
The three-storied massive structure bears testimony to the inhumane atrocities on them by the British. Built in 1906, this colossal monument, now declared a National Memorial, features a unique sound and light show taking you right back in time, when Indian people were engaged in fierce struggle with the British for the achievement of their freedom from the colonial rule. The jail was originally built with seven wings which had rows of single iron-gated cells – 693 in total, specially built for the solitary confinement of the prisoners.
Notable inmates of the Cellular Jail also, known as Kala Pani, were Batukeshwar Dutt, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Babarao Savarkar, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Hare Krishna Konar, Bhai Parmanand, Sohan Singh, Ullaskar Dutta, Indu Bhushan Roy, Mahavir Singh, Mohan Kishor Namdas, Mohit Moitra. Barindra Kumar Ghosh. The brutal treatment of the prisoners drove Indu Bhushan Roy to commit suicide while Ullaskar Dutta had lost his mind.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had referred to the inhuman treatment meted out to the inmates by the Irish jailor David Barrie, the self-declared “God of Port Blair”.
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