Sri Vijaya Puram, November 7: The Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands stands as a record of the colonial administration’s systematic repression of political prisoners, with its history of imprisonment, torture and sacrifice linking the islands to the wider struggle for India’s independence, Dr Dinesh Sharma said at a seminar in Lucknow.
Addressing a seminar on the role of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the freedom movement at Kalicharan Degree College, Dr Dinesh Sharma drew parallels between Andaman and Lucknow, describing both as symbols of courage, sacrifice and patriotism in the resistance against British rule. He said Lucknow emerged as a major centre of the Revolt of 1857, which posed a formidable challenge to the British, while the Cellular Jail preserved the history of revolutionaries who suffered imprisonment for the cause of independence.
He said the British established a penal settlement in the Andaman Islands to isolate revolutionaries from the mainstream and subject them to severe punishment. The colonial administration used the prison to suppress political resistance, making it a major centre for the confinement and torture of freedom fighters. Its association with harsh punishment earned it the name Kala Pani.
Among those imprisoned at the Cellular Jail were Veer Savarkar and Batukeshwar Dutt, who faced inhuman treatment under British rule. Dr Dinesh Sharma said the sacrifices of countless freedom fighters imprisoned in the islands carried forward the spirit of resistance that had emerged during the 1857 uprising.
The seminar also highlighted the historical and literary links between Lucknow and the Andaman penal settlement. A book titled Black Water: The Strange History of Port Blair, written in 1892 by Lucknow resident Mohammed Zafar, documented the penal settlement and the torture endured by prisoners. The renowned Munshi Nawal Kishore Press in Lucknow published the book, connecting the city’s publishing history with accounts of colonial repression in the islands.
Dr Dinesh Sharma also cited the presence of prisoners from Uttar Pradesh in the Cellular Jail. Of the 585 revolutionaries imprisoned there between 1909 and 1938, 18 belonged to Uttar Pradesh, reflecting the geographical spread of the freedom movement and the contribution of people from the state to the struggle against British rule.
The seminar examined the significance of the islands in the national freedom movement, particularly the role of the Cellular Jail as a site of colonial punishment and political imprisonment.
Manager of the college V.K. Mishra, Principal Anil Kumar Mishra, Principal Chandramohan Upadhyay and local councillors attended the programme.
