Agony and pride revisits Cellular on turning 100

Kolkata, Mar 09 (UNI) The giant pillars, sooty grills and corroded walls turn a century tomorrow, but the pains and spirit of freedom still lingers in the dark corners.

The once infamous Cellular jail in Port Blair was the veritable hell for the freedom fighters. Imagine going to an island knowing that you may never make it back.

The families of Ex-Andaman Freedom Fighters have been invited by Anadaman and Nicobar Administration and the Centre to visit Port Blair to pay homage to the 'glorious sacrifices' made by the martyrs of Indian freedom. They will leave Kolkata today by a chartered flight.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to be present at the function in Port Blair tomorrow to felicitate the freedom fighters and the wives of the deceased.

The mutineers and deserters were brought to the Andamans from different parts of the country by utilising the Kolkata, Karachi and the Madras port. The convicts were sent to penal settlement in the island, covered by forest and surrounded by sea all around.

The conditions were not fit for human habitation and the freedom fighters faced potential threats from tribals, snakes, leech and other insects. Infact, the cruelties inflicted on the freedom fighters forced many to end their lives.

The British government did not allow interaction among the freedom fighters and the tribals so that the tribals are not educated to demand their rights.

The revolutionaries and other convicts started constructing the Cellular Jail in 1896 which was completed in 1906.

The Cellular jail, a unique symbol of India's revolutionary struggle for freedom, was the first of its kind in India which provided 698 cells for solitary confinemnt. The jail is called 'Cellular' as it has only cells and no dormatories.

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