what dark secrets hide in kaala paani?

Situated in Port Blair in the territory of Andaman and Nicobar island. It was a cellular jail constructed by the British colonial during its rule to keep prisoners, it was known as Kalapani because it was a small island which was secluded and there was the only sea that was visible it was impossible for any prisoner to escape that jail. During the British rule, all the political prisoners were sent to that prison during the fight for independence by Indians.

(H1) History of the prison

This prison was one of the darkest histories of India that had many famous freedom fighters imprisoned in there. The prisoners were tortured and abused in a way that is hard to imagine, from scarcity in food and water to being made to do tortuous work under the sun for hours. This prison was one of the biggest prisons in India, the lives of the were of loneliness, scarcity of food, and torture. They had to work for hours under the security of the jailers and later sent to their prison which was alone and had a small cell with only a pot of water, the cells were so small that it made the prisoners suffer mentally.

There were seven wings that connected to the tower through which it was easier for the jailers to keep a watch on all the prisoners later after independence few of these wings were destructed but still after years the building still stands and reminds about the cruelty done to humans at those times.

The jail was constructed in a way that no cellmate can look and interact with the other cellmate famous freedom fighters such as Mahavir Singh, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Yogendra Shukla were kept in the jail for years. For people being sent there, it was like a horror to them the place came to be known as ‘Kaalapaani’ because there was the only sea all around the jail and no prisoner can escape the prison. The political prisoners were sent there by the Britishers to break there self-esteem many died there due to scarcity of food and mental torture, many people committed suicide.

After being fed up of all the torture once a few prisoners started a protest under which they stayed in fast for days which later turned out to killing of some of the protesters by forceful taking them out of their cells and tying them up and putting a pipe through their mouth through which milk was pumped to their stomach which later went to their lungs and killed them, these bodies were later thrown in the sea without any mercy.

In the cellular there was no such thing as humanity it showed the worst of humanity, the prisoner was released later in 1937 after an agreement was signed between Mahatma Gandhi and British administration head lord Linlithgow. This Cell shows us about the ugly truth of British rule in India and this cellular cell famously known as ‘Kaala Paani’ is one deep dark history of India. Now, this cell is a famous national monument that has a museum that exhibits the hardships faced by the political prisoners during that time. 

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