104 yrs on, authenticity of Jallianwala martyrs indefinite

Tribune News Service

GS Paul

Amritsar, April 13

Precisely 104 years have lapsed when the barbarous tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh massacre had occurred on this day in 1919, the validity of the martyrs is unknown, till date.

Amid a debate over its genuineness, the Amritsar administration on January 19, 2021, had released an ‘official’ list of 492 martyrs posted on its website and had asked the relatives of martyrs to submit documents to ascertain their antecedents and claims.

The administration had then appealed to the public to approach the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) by January 22, 2021, if they had information about the martyrs’ kin. Besides, all MLAs, councillors and sarpanches have been approached with the list.

Sources said there was a lukewarm response as only a few, less than 30, had submitted the requisite documents.

However, with multiple lists projecting different figures, confusion over the number of deaths and the uncertainty over their credentials remain.

The list of the dead and injured prepared by the British then for the purpose of awarding compensation has several discrepancies. Lying at the DC’s office, the list has 501 individuals with many marked as “unidentified”. The list was ultimately pruned to 492, as several serial numbers were left blank.

Amritsar’s DC Harpreet Singh Sudan said that the administration’s list of martyrs too could not be endorsed ‘officially’ for want of more research. “This list was prepared on the basis of the British record lying with the office, but it too had several discrepancies with no proper address and contact detailing,” he said.

On January 25, 2021, when the Capt Amarinder-led state government had erected a ‘parallel’ centenary memorial park at Anand Park in Ranjit Avenue, six-km away from the original site near the Golden Temple, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) was entrusted with the task of identifying and authenticating the martyrs’ credentials by setting up Jallianwala Bagh Chair.

Dr Amandeep Bal, head of the research team of the Jallianwala Bagh Chair, said, “We were provided with a list of 379 martyrs. Since last year, the process is on to ascertain its validity. But, the number could vary. It is a time consuming exercise as our team needs to do village to village research, meeting the claimants and checking their supportive documentation. Still, we aim to get the task done by next year or so.”

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