Arrival of the Ship at Budge Budge: Difference between revisions

The status of passengers as on 11th Oct, 1914: Total=321

Left for Panjab in special train = 59 Left behind, women & children = 3
Balance = 259

Killed at Budge Budge = 16
Died from wounds in Hospital = 2
Found drowned = 1
Balance = 168
In hospital in Calcutta = 9
In jail in Calcutta = 168
" " outside " = 24
________________________________ Total = 201
Balance still to be accounted for = 39

DAMAGE ON THE OFFICIAL SIDE DUE TO "RIOT"

Killed……….= 3 police personnel +1 Railing employee, presumably due to Army firing.
Injured………=11 (5 due to bullet injuries and other due to non-firearm injuries)

The Scenario of firing…A Melee

In a communication from Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of Bengal Governor in connection with the release of detenues, it was observed that those who had been detained primarily because they had suffered injuries in the occurrence, may in fact be innocent since in a melee such as took it is quite as likely as a guilty man to have been wounded, perhaps more so".

UNFOLDING OF THE EVENT

"After some conversation with Sir William Duke, who had gone out and persuaded the Sikhs to return to Budge, we went forward on food and arrived at the Railway Station just as the Sikhs reached it and were sitting down. Then occupied the road parallel to on the west side of the railway, fro which they were separated by an iron railing about four feet high. Mr. Donald on arrival, asked for Gurdit Singh who was pointed out to him at the end of the crowd next to the station. It was rather dark by this time, but it was possible to see a man's features if one looked closely. Gurdit Singh showed no disposition to move and one or two European sergeants stepped forward. I presume to fetch (read apprehend) him. Immediately all the Sikhs round Gurdit Singh sprang to their feet and closed round him. The excitement seemed to be spreading to other people who were farther away and who could not possibly have known the cause of it. I moved off several paces to my own left, attempting to pacify these people and asking them to sit down and keep calm, immediately a shot was fired. The flash caught my eye and I should say it came from behind. Gurdit Singh and to his right that is nearer to the level crossing. No sooner had the first shot been fired, a larger number of others followed. The European desargeants started firing, the crowd broke and a swayed, some individuals of them charging forward to attack the police. I had a Browning pistol in my pocket and I drew it and fired seven shots at people who were advancing on me. I was standing near the level crossing and a good deal of hot hand-to-hand fighting took place between Sikhs and some men of the Punjab Police. It was in this early part of the scuffle that I received two bullet wounds, one in the right forearm and other one in the upper thigh. The next impression I have is that the Sikhs were gathered in force round the huts on the left hand side of the road as one goes from the level-crossing towards the river. There were tearing away the 'bamboos' of which the huts were composed, presumably to use them as 'lathis'. A good a many shots were fired from about these huts. After making one or tow abortive rushes forward, the Sikhs broke and fled. The troops had been standing in columns of fours some short distance behind at the time the riot commenced, and from the confident and the daring way in which the Sikhs attacked I feel sure that they were not aware of the presence of soldiers. In my opinion some 40 or 50 shots might have been fired by the rioters and they may have used about 10 or 12 pistols. I saw no Winchester rifles and no swords, but as the rioters were grappling with men of the Punjab Police it is quite possible they succeeded in capturing one or two swords from injured policemen." (D. Petrie)

WERE THERE ANY FIREARMS WITH THE PASSANGERS?

From the perusa 1 of the entire reports, all that had been found in evidence regarding one .38 pistol from the spot with some 'empties' of the same bore, which according to the report could have belonged to the passengers since neither one pistol of the same bore was recovered from one of the passengers at Midnapur which may be not palpable link with the said 'riot'. But what is left unsaid is that none from among the police officials including D. Petrie had SEEN any of the passengers wielding a fire arm. The simple recovery of a particular weapon FROM the spot cold mean many things. Above all, had the passengers such kind of weapons and had then fired from point blank range, as per the scenario of melee, the casualties of the government side must have been many more. In facts and circumstances of the case, the officials hit by firearms were so hit primarily because in a melee since a bullet having hit one man can penetrate through and through causing injury to a second person particularly in case of high velocity weapons like a riffle. Besides, the accuracy of a weapon like a pistol is very limited. Hence, the bullets which hit the officials were in all likelihood fired from their own side. Expectedly, there is no word about the bullets recovered from the bodies of victims on the official side which indeed is the clinching proof in the real of ballistics.

THE CONTEXT BARES IT ALL!

The bare facts narrated above shall fall into place once we peep into the mindset of the authorities in the matter.

1. That since the "steps taken from time to time meet the purposes of the Governments, which in a sense, led to the riot and because only form a statement of the objects can it be seen whether these steps were well or ill calculated to give effects to the WISHES of the Government.
2. According to D. Petrie, the Panyat police chief, "he had heard Giardit Singh arguing (on 29th Sept, Morning) that none of them (passengers) would go ashore at Budge Budge; he also said if they had done anything wrong, a judge should be sent for to take their statements, after which the Government could shoot them or so what if chose; if there were any questions of dying they would all die together and so on"
3. It is a question of common experience that Indians too often return from abroad with tainted political views and diminished respect for their white rulers".

and finally 5. "That while some of the more ignorant (passengers) may have been persuaded that the disembarkation at Budge Budge was for some sinister purpose, yet the ringleaders and Gurdit Singh used it simply as an excuse because they had been foiled in their attempt to make a demonstration at Howrah, as they had sent telegrams from Singapore expecting a demonstration when they arrived at Calcutta.'

So all the "sinister design" the government in its discretion aimed at foiling was a demonstration of sorts on the arrival of passengers at Calcutta, which possibly in the eyes of the authorities had to be pre-med "at any cost" so the passengers much have to be huddled in to the prison bogies of the railways to be dumped at chosen places in India at scattered places as to prevent them from lodging even a peaceful protest over an issue in which they were nursing a legitimate grievance.

Note: The second phase of this writing is based on the material which the present writer is accessing from the National Archives for compiling a publication incorporating the core documents relating to the saga of Komagata Maru.

References

By Prof. Malwinder Jit Singh Advocate. KOMAGATA MARU EPISODE: Firing on hopeless passengers on 29th April 1914 at Budge Budge Ghat-Calcutta