What is in news : Prime Minister  inaugurated the newly renovated Jallianwala Bagh complex and museum in Amritsar

HUNTER COMMISSION

About :

• Set up – October 14, 1919
• With approval of the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu
• Known as – Disorders Inquiry Committee
• Lord William Hunter, a former Solicitor General of Scotland was the president
• Seven members
• Held its first meeting in Delhi on October 29, 1919
• Heard evidence of witnesses on eight days in Delhi, 29 days in Lahore, six days in Ahmedabad and three days at Bombay.
• Report was presented on March 8, 1920
• Was in the form of a majority report and a minority report
• Majority report was signed by the president of the committee and four members, Justice Rankin, Maj Gen Barrow, WF Rice and Thomas Smith.
• The minority report was signed by Sir C H Setalvad, Pandit Jagat Narayan and Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Khan.

What did the majority report say :

• Delved into the incidents which had taken place in Amritsar prior to April 13, 1919 which included violence at several places in the city
• Military reinforcements were summoned to the city and these included troops from Brig Gen Dyer’s Brigade in Jalandhar and Indian and British Troops from Lahore
• On the morning of April 13, Dyer issued a proclamation which prohibited gathering of four or more men at one place.
• The report noted that Dyer entered Jallianwala Bagh with 25 Gorkha soldiers and 25 Baluchis armed with rifles, 40 Gorkhas armed with only Khukris and two armoured cars.
• A crowd of around 10 to 12,000 was gathered there at the time.
• Without giving the crowd any warning to disperse, which he considered unnecessary as they were in breach of his proclamation, he ordered his troops to fire and the firing continued for about ten minutes
• It noted that no one in the crowd was carrying firearms though some may have been carrying sticks.

What statements did Brig Gen Dyer give before the committee:

• The minority report of the committee brought out the evidence given by Dyer in great detail.
• He testified that his mind had already been made up to order the firing when he reached the Bagh.

How was the report received by the British government:

While broadly agreeing that disproportionate force had been used by Brig Gen Dyer at Jallianwala Bagh, the then Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, was of the opinion that, “Brig Gen Dyer displayed honesty of purpose and unflinching adherence to his conception of his duty cannot for a moment be questioned”.