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| Alipore jail, Bellary, KA deccanherald.com |
After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the fourth and final Angelo-Mysore war commanded by Governor General Cornwallis and his death on 4 May 1799 in the siege of Srirangapatna, a large parts of his kingdom including Bellary and other areas, now parts of Karnataka were annexed by the East India company. Subsequently, they became part of the then Madras Presidency. This ended the hegemony of Mysore kingdom over the southern states. Later the Mysore kingdom was succeeded by the Wodiyar royal family who were the former rulers prior to Hyder Ali. The English company in Madras sent lord Thomas Munroe in 1800 to Bellary as the District collector to look after the revenue lands, and other civilian administrative duties. In 1804 he mooted the idea of constructing a military jail by converting the barracks in the cantonment in Bellary.
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| Unused Cental /Alipore jail, Bellary, 2013 KA deccanherald.com |
01. The Alipore jail, previously a part of cantonment’s infantry barracks came up toward the end of the 19th century. The military jail was meant for POW from other war theaters. The First World War POWs from France, Denmark and Turkey (1807–09) were imprisoned in the Alipore jail.
02. The Alipore jail is no longer a functional one and was closed for good by the government after India's independence along with the cellular jail (Kala Pani) at Port Blair, the Andaman islands; the cellular jail has now become a National Heritage Museum highlighting the security aspects of the prison complex, various harsh punishments undergone by the exiled freedom fighters, nationalists, revolutionaries, etc., and the untold hidden stories of miseries buried in the hallow walls of the jail rooms prior to 1947. The colonists had used the Andaman prison since 1857 though the complex came up in 1896 and 1906.
03. The entire Alipore jail with over 14 jail blocks could not be converted into a National Heritage Museum because most of the site was converted into a medical college.
04. The military Cantonment in Bellary, as big as the one in Madras (Chennai), was established by the Raj to station infantry, cavalry and artillery units.
05. The advantage of Bellary is its location: It is in the center of southern plateau of the Deccan in Peninsular India, the English could access their places of interest from the cantonment barracks easily in case of trouble. If unrest or riots happened within the complex, they could be contained by the troops in the near-by cantonment.
06. The Cantonment at Bellary had better storage facilities for arms and ammunitions and military weapons. Big magazines were built to supply huge quantities of ammunition to the entire British army in the southern plateau.
07. Besides, the Cantonment was almost self contained with other facilities like golf links, race course, etc., to relax and a large military hospital to take care of the health of the inmates and workers.
08. It was Thomas Munroe in 1804 came up with a proposal to have a military prison in the barracks to lodge the POWs. He did not want to have a separate prison built as the English company was low on finances after the final war in the kingdom of Mysore.
09. Some officers who served here in the Cantonment later achieved fame and status. For example: the Duke of Wellington - Lord Arthur Wellesley (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) who successfully led the British troop against Tipu Sultan's army in 1799 at Srirangapatna (Karnataka). Tipu was killed by one of his soldiers. He was one of the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars in Europe (1815). Edward Williams (2 November 1892 – 20 January 1977), became chief of the British army and he successfully participated in WWI and WWII and saw action in Egypt and Africa. Apart, he was a good cricket player and participated in first class as well as county matches.
10. When freedom struggle became a serious issue during the Quit India Movement this jail was converted into a civilian one for senior leaders of our freedom struggle.
11. During August 1921 to 1922 the Malabar rebellion (Mappila riots) against the British colonial forces and the Hindu landlords who were with the British, over 2,000 Mapplas from Travancore state were arrested and imprisoned as civilian prisoners at Alipore jails.
12. The British Crown administration, London after the First War of Independence of 1857 started giving shape to the prison complex in Bellary in the 1870s. Because, they did not want to take chances against the hardcore patriots who wanted to see free India. To the british India had been a ''Milch Cow'' - a perineal source of income for the British treasury in London. So, the wily British did not want to lose their tight grip on India.
13. The high security jail complex Allipur jail had an electrified fence with watch towers at vantage points, so escaping from the jail complex was a tough one as the guards were on the vigil all the time. I With military Cantonment in close proximity, any violent uprising within the prison complex could be put down easily.
14. During the freedom struggle prominent leaders of of the Congress party who were lodged here. They were Rajaji (first Gov. gen. of India and former CM of Madras) , Kamaraj Nadar (former CM of Madras), Potti Sri Ramulu (leader responsible for the formation of Andhra from Madras Presidency) , Sanjiva Reddy (former CM of AP), Bezwada Gopal Reddy, O V Alagesan (former Union minister), Tekur Subramanyam of Bellary, Bulusu Samba Murthy, Gantasala Venkateshwara Rao and many others
15. Now the Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) is functioning there and all the barracks of the soldiers except one were converted into doctor’s residences.
16. In the recent past some records on nationalists Rajaji and Tekur Subramayam with their signatures were found in the Central Jail records here and the solitary block where they stayed was saved from near demolition as it was standing in the midst of new buildings.
17. The ‘Swatantra Soudha’ ( Freedom Fighters’ Museum / ’the National Heritage Centre) was built in places of the cells that once housed the freedom fighters.
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| .Alipore jail, Bellary. newindianexpress.com |
18. The Alipore jail complex got the state heritage tag in the recent past and building construction in a 100 meter radius is prohibited and permission should be taken from the ASI for repair of buildings. The idea was initially mooted way back in 2014 because of its heritage value when the entire site was poorly taken care of by the state with wild thorny bushes and plants growing around. It was a totally neglected site then.
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| Bellary Central prison, KA. udayavani.com |
One should not get confused with the famous Alipore Jail or Alipore Central Jail, also known as Presidency Correctional Home, in Alipore, Kolkata. Here, the a maximum security prison, political prisoners were kept under British rule, The famous inmates included among others Subhas Chandra Bose.( a great patriot and founder of INA- Indian National Army and Aurabindo Ghose. Both were qualified for ICS, but they preferred to work for India's freedom. The Alipore Central Jail in Kolkata is functional now. It also houses the Alipore Jail Press.
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/66042/this-jailhouse-has-rich-past.html
.https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/deccan+chronicle-epaper-deccanch/ballari+s+jail+walls+have+many+a+story+to+tell-newsid-71802152