The Cellular Jail, "kaala pani" ( 'Black Water'), was a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The prison was used by the British government for the purpose of exiling political prisoners to the remote archipelago(an expanse of water with many scattered islands). Many notable freedom fighters, including Diwan Singh Kalepani, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, Yogendra Shukla, Batukeshwar Dutt, Babarao Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar etc were imprisoned here during the struggle for India's independence. Today, the complex serves as a national memorial monument.
Structure of This Jail:
The first and foremost thing that makes this jail unique is its structure. It was built as a seven wing stretching from a Central tower prison that spread like starfish or seven spokes of a wheel. Each wing was three-storied. There was also an entrance block to this jail. It has 696 cells, one for each person. The name Cellular Jail is derived from its unique feature as it has only cells and no dormitories. Each cell measures 13 1/2 ‘x 7’, secured by a heavy iron grill door with a specially designed latch system. Confinement in the small cells gave this facility its name ‘Cellular Jail’. 3 feet by 1 feet ventilator, nearly 10 feet high from the door, was provided to each cell. To minimize the chances of conversation possibility among the convict and to isolate them from each other, the construction of the Jail was so made that the front portion of each wing was to face the backside of the other wing.
How do prisoners live in This Jail?
Other than isolation, the work quotas given to these prisoners were frequently impossible to complete within the time limit, and dire punishment followed for those who failed to meet them. Often punishment was inhuman, it ranged from extra hours on the grinding mill to standing handcuffed for a week, to bar-fetters for six months, to confinement in solitary cells, to four days of starvation diet and crossbars for ten days, a punishment which compelled the victim to keep his legs apart. Work on the oil grinding mill was all the more terrible and caused several deaths. Often the revolutionary patriots in the form of prisoners became breathless, with their tongues parched up; limbs numb, hands bruised and the brain reeled. And what was their crime? They loved their motherland. We may not be able to sustain the brutality, but their mold was different.
Life was very dark and horrible in this Jail cell. There were no toilets. Each inmate was provided with two metal bowls. One was meant for food and the other one was to be used as a toilet and was cleaned out by the prisoners when they were out the next morning. The food that was given was not fit for human consumption. Water consisted of worm-infested rainwater for drinking that was also limited. Each prisoner was allowed only one pinch of salt per day. They were provided with ‘Kanji’, which means boiled rice churned in water once a day in a bowl of the size of a coconut shell and wild grass was boiled and served instead of vegetables.
Other than isolation, the work quotas given to these prisoners were frequently impossible to complete within the time limit, and dire punishment followed for those who failed to meet them. Often punishment was inhuman, it ranged from extra hours on the grinding mill to standing handcuffed for a week, to bar-fetters for six months, to confinement in solitary cells, to four days of starvation diet and crossbars for ten days, a punishment which compelled the victim to keep his legs apart. Work on the oil grinding mill was all the more terrible and caused several deaths. Often the revolutionary patriots in the form of prisoners became breathless, with their tongues parched up; limbs numb, hands bruised and the brain reeled. And what was their crime? They loved their motherland. We may not be able to sustain the brutality but, their mold was different.
Life was very dark and horrible in this jail cell. There were no toilets. Each inmate was provided with two metal bowls. One was meant for food and the other one was to be used as a toilet and was cleaned out by the prisoners when they were out the next morning. The food that was given was not fit for human consumption. Water consisted of worm-infested rainwater for drinking that was also limited. Each prisoner was allowed only one pinch of salt per day. They were provided with ‘Kanji’, which means boiled rice churned in water once a day in a bowl of the size of a coconut shell and wild grass was boiled and served instead of vegetables.
Meaning of this jail:
‘Kaala Pani’ or ‘Black Water’ virtually meant cruel treatment to the prisoners till death. A sentence of deportation to ‘Kaala Pani’ meant a warrant for throwing the prisoner in living hell to face heard or unheard trials and tribulations and to lead a life of a beast or even worse than that. Expatriation to ‘Kaala Pani’ for life was worse than the death penalty. The Indian revolutionaries were doomed to ‘Kaala Pani’ to undergo these harsh punishments, but they, in turn, immortalized these islands by their selfless sacrifices.
Although the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the world’s most beautiful islands and neither the soil, nor the water of these islands is black, but the British government had created a situation to call these islands ‘Kaala Pani’ because of the inhuman barbarisms inflicted on the patriot prisoners fighting for the liberation of their motherland who were transported from the mainland and gabled in these islands. The term “Kaala Pani” is interwoven with the trials and tribulations faced by the brave political prisoners in Cellular Jail and of those freedom fighters of the first war of independence who were brought to these islands to lead a "hell-like life”. Every cell echoes the cruel stories of British rulers and the hardships suffered by the prisoners. Every brick bore the testimony to the reality of horrors and begged the question, does fighting for one’s human right deserve such treatment?
The saga of this jail is now bought alive in a moving son et Lumiere (Sound and Light Show) by the department of tourism runs this show based on the history of this island and this jail as if it is told by the oldest “Pee pal Tree”, still standing in jail.
The Cellular Jail stands as a mute spectator to the inhumane sufferings of our freedom fighters and patriots who were imprisoned in kaala pani jail. They even sacrificed their precious lives as victims of brutalities and tyranny of the British and Japanese Government.
This jail imparts fear to its spectators and also imbibes a feeling of great respect.
The cellular jail has many such stories that are heart-wrenching and brutal. This reminds me of an interesting story of the Central Park Five, where 5 young teenagers were held responsible for a crime they didn’t commit and one of them was treated as an adult and sent to an adult jail in the US. A Netflix original named ‘When They See Us’ portrayed this story very well on the screen, and you will see how actual jails and solitary cells work in the US, which is very brutal, and some things are the same in this jail too.
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