Editing Cellular Jail (section)

==Prison conditions and inmates==
[[File:A Cell.JPG|thumb|left|From inside a cell]]

Conditions faced by prisoners in the Cellular Jail were frequently abysmal. As noted in a ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' article, prisoner could face "[[torture]], [[medical test]]s, [[forced labour]] and for many, [[List of prison deaths|death]]."<ref name=OurHell>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jun/23/weekend.adrianlevy | title = Survivors of our hell | first1 = Cathy | last1 = Scott-Clark | first2 = Adrian | last2 = Levy | date = 22 June 2001 | work = The Guardian | access-date = 7 February 2019}}</ref> In response to poor conditions in the Cellular Jail, including the quality of prison food, numerous prisoners went on [[hunger strike]]s. Those who did were often [[Force-feeding|force-fed]] by the prison authorities.<ref name=OurHell/>

Solitary confinement was implemented as the British government of India wanted to ensure that political prisoners and revolutionaries be isolated from one another. Most prisoners of the Cellular Jail were independence activists. Some inmates were, [[Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi]], [[Yogendra Shukla]], [[Batukeshwar Dutt]],  [[Vinayak Savarkar]], [[Babarao Savarkar]], [[Sachindra Nath Sanyal]], [[Hare Krishna Konar]], [[Bhai Parmanand]], [[Sohan Singh]], [[Subodh Roy]] and [[Trailokyanath Chakravarty]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100906201654/http://www.andamancellularjail.org/ListOfRevolutionaries.htm Freedom Fighters Deported to Andamans]}}. AndamanCellularJail.org.</ref> Many [[Mappila Muslims|moplahs]] arrested in the 1921 [[Malabar rebellion]] were also lodged in Cellular Jail.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MOPLAH REBELLION (PRISONERS). (Hansard, 18 February 1924) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1924/feb/18/moplah-rebellion-prisoners |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> Several revolutionaries were tried in the [[Emperor v. Aurobindo Ghosh and others|Alipore Case]] (1908), such as [[Barindra Kumar Ghose]], the surviving companion of [[Bagha Jatin]], was transferred to Berhampore Jail in Bengal, before his mysterious death in 1924.

[[Sher Ali Afridi]], a former officer in the Punjab Mounted Police, was a life convict in the jail who had been imprisoned for murder. He was sentenced to death on 2 April 1867 and during appeal this was reduced to life imprisonment and he was deported to Andamans to serve his sentence. [[Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo|The 6th Earl of Mayo]], [[Viceroy of India]] from 1869, was visiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in February 1872 when he was murdered by Afridi.<ref name="Halen">{{cite web |last=James |first=Halen |title=The Assassination of Lord Mayo : The "First" Jihad? |url=http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HelenJames_LordMayoAssassination.pdf |accessdate=18 November 2012 |publisher=IJAPS, Vol 5, No.2 (July 2009)}}</ref><ref name="kapse">{{cite news |last=Kapse |first=Ram |date=21 December 2005 |title=Hundred years of the Andamans Cellular Jail |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/21/stories/2005122107881100.htm |url-status=dead |accessdate=18 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213184157/http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/21/stories/2005122107881100.htm |archive-date=13 December 2006}}</ref> [[Sher Ali Afridi]] wanted to kill the Superintendent and the Viceroy as a revenge for his sentence, which he thought was more severe than he deserved.<ref name="andaman">{{cite web |title=The Murder of Lord Mayo 1872 |url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/app-o/texto.htm |accessdate=18 November 2012 |publisher=andaman.org |archive-date=5 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005113004/http://andaman.org/BOOK/app-o/texto.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He said that he killed on the instructions of [[Allah]].<ref name="Halen2">{{cite web |last=James |first=Halen |title=The Assassination of Lord Mayo : The "First" Jihad? |url=http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HelenJames_LordMayoAssassination.pdf |accessdate=18 November 2012 |publisher=IJAPS, Vol 5, No.2 (July 2009)}}</ref> He was subsequently hanged.

[[File:Cellular Jail Balcony.JPG|thumb|left|Cellular Jail balcony]]
In March 1868, 238 prisoners tried to escape. By April they were all caught. One committed suicide and of the remainder Superintendent Walker ordered 87 to be hanged.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070118091924/http://www.andamancellularjail.org/History.htm%23 History of Andaman Cellular Jail: Atrocities committed on early freedom fighters]}}. AndamanCellularJail.org.</ref>

{{blockquote|Among the records of the Government of India's Home Department, we found the Empire's response in its Orders to Provincial Governors and Chief Commissioners. "Very Secret: Regarding security prisoners who hunger strike, every effort should be made to prevent the incidents from being reported, no concessions to be given to the prisoners who must be kept alive. Manual methods of restraint are best, then mechanical when the patient resists."<ref name=OurHell />}}

Hunger strikes by the inmates in May 1933 caught the attention of the jail authorities. Thirty-three prisoners protested their treatment and sat in a hunger strike. Among them were [[Mahavir Singh (freedom fighter)|Mahavir Singh]], an associate of [[Bhagat Singh]] (Lahore conspiracy case), [[Mohan Kishore Namadas]] (convicted in Arms Act Case) and [[Mohit Moitra]] (also convicted in Arms Act Case). These three died due to [[force-feeding]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A Saga of Freedom Struggle|last=Murthy|first=R. V. R.|publisher=Kalpaz Publications|year=2011|isbn=978-8178359038}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Bejoy Kumar Sinha: A Revolutionary's Quest for Sacrifice|last=Sinha|first=Srirajyam|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|year=1993}}</ref>
Other prisoners:<ref name=OurHell />
* Prisoner 31552 [[Ullaskar Dutt]] (made home-made bombs that exploded inside a carriage in [[Muzaffarpur]], killing the bridge partners of Douglas Kingsford, the chief presidency magistrate, Mrs. [[Pringle Kennedy]] and her daughter, Grace). He was tortured, declared insane due to malarial infection, transferred to the island's lunatic ward at Haddo, and held there for 14 years.
* Prisoner 31549 [[Barindra Kumar Ghosh|Barin Ghose]]
* Prisoner 31555, Indu Bhushan Roy (hanged himself with a strand of torn kurta, "exhausted by the unrelenting oil mill")
* Prisoner 38360, Chattar Singh, who was suspended in an iron suit for three years
* Prisoner 38511, Baba Bhan Singh, who had been beaten to death by David Barry's men
* Prisoner 41054, Ram Raksha, who had starved himself in protest at the removal of sacred Brahminical threads from around his chest
* Haripada Chowdhury (caught in the attempted murder case of the editor of The Englishman (later Statesman) Watson and was sentenced for 10 years and deported to Andaman. Was eventually released in the year 1939. During his capture he was found in possession of a pistol along with numerous bullets of different caliber, which are now on display, along with his photograph, in the Kolkata Police Museum, situated in the premises of North Kolkata DC Office.)
*
* Prisoner 147 Dhirendra Chowdhury (robbery to raise funds for bombs and guns), one of the few survivors of Kalapani
* Naringun Singh (guilty of desertion at Nuddea) (hanged himself in his cell, due to torture by the prison authorities)
* Prisoner 15557 [[Sher Ali Afridi|Sher Ali]], killed [[Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo|Lord Mayo]], the [[Viceroy of India]], who arrived at the Andaman Islands on an inspection tour on 8 February 1872; hanged on 11 March 1872
* Prisoner 12819, Mehtab, and
* Prisoner 10817, Choitun, came the closest to succeeding. According to ''The Guardian'', "They stole away from the islands on 26 March 1872, rowing out into the Bay of Bengal on home-made rafts across a 750-mile stretch of turbulent water, dodging schools of bounty hunters who fought over 250-rupee rewards (then £25). Picked up by a British vessel, they persuaded the crew that they were shipwrecked fishermen and eventually pitched up, free, at the Strangers Home for Asiatics in London. The two were fed, clothed and given a bed. But while they slept, Colonel Hughes, the home's proprietor, took photographs that were circulated around the Empire. One morning, Mehtab and Choitun awoke to find themselves shackled and frog-marched aboard a ship bound for India."<ref name=OurHell />
* Prisoner 68 [[Mahavir Singh (revolutionary)|Mahavir Singh]]: "It took a while for the whisper to reach the Yard Five Wing. By then it was 8 pm." The bell rang again. Every prisoner shuffled to his locked gate. "The feeding tube had gone into Mahavir Singh's lungs. They were filled with milk. Doctors were now fighting to revive him. So we shouted 'Inquilab Zindabad' – long live the revolution. 'Inquilab Zindabad'. Twenty-one warders ran out of the Central Tower. 'Inquilab Zindabad'. Truncheons were drawn, a gun was cocked." "Midnight", Dr. Edge noted in the penal colony's hospital log. "Mahavir Singh – dead."<ref name=OurHell />
* Prisoner 89, Mohan Kishore, had also been killed. Drowned in milk
* Prisoner 93 Mohit Mitra, killed. Drowned in milk
* Prisoner 61, Narain (having excited sedition in the cantonment at [[Danapur|Dinapore]]) was the first to try to escape. He was fished from the black water, hauled up before Dr Walker and executed.<ref name=OurHell />

[[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] launched a campaign to shut down the jail, and the colonial government decided to repatriate the political prisoners from the Cellular Jail from 1937 to 1938.<ref name="hinduonnet"/> "The Cellular Jail was forced to empty in 1939. Two years later, the Japanese seized the islands, transforming the penal settlement into a prisoner of war camp, incarcerating the British warders. In 1945 the Andamans would become the first piece of India to be declared independent."<ref name=OurHell />

State-wise list of freedom fighters sent to the Cellular Jail:<ref>{{Cite web |title=CSTDoc |url=http://db.and.nic.in/cellularjail/stories/namelist.htm |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=db.and.nic.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-21 |title=Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India |url=https://data.gov.in/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=data.gov.in |language=en}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!S. No.
!State
!Number of Freedom Fighters
|-
|1
|Bengal
|608
|-
|2
|Punjab
|95
|-
|3
|Maharashtra
|3
|-
|4
|Bihar
|17
|-
|5
|Uttar Pradesh
|18
|-
|6
|Kerala
|14
|-
|7
|Andhra Pradesh
|8
|-
|8
|Odisha
|5
|-
|9
|Himachal/ NW Frontier/ Tamil Nadu/ State not known
|27
|-
|
|Total
|795
|}