105-year old Jallianwala Bagh massacre witness honoured

Amritsar, Aug 14 (UNI) On the eve of the Independence Day, 105-year-old Bapu Fauja Singh, a witness to the Jallainwala Bagh's massacre in 1919 was honoured here today.

Bapu Fauja Singh, under treatment for a foot infection and hospitalised for the first time in his life, was presented a bouquet of flowers by Escorts Heart and Super Specialty Institute Executive Director Lt Gen (retd) M L Chawla and Chief of Non-Invasive Cardiology Dr H P Singh.

Sweets were distributed to the staff and patients by Bapu and his grand daughter Jaspinder Kaur.

Bapu Fauja Singh, born in 1901 at village Shamnagar, told the hospital staff the Jallainwala Bagh massacre was the most horrifying incident of his life.

''I was 19 years old and went to Jallianwala Bagh alongwith my friend Bakshish Singh to celebrate Baisakhi. When General Dyer and his men opened fire, a 'fauji' (army man) pushed me and Bakshish on the ground and asked us to lie low,'' he said in a low voice.

He recalled seeing dead bodies all around him and the injured crying for help. Many jumped into the well in the Jallianwala Bagh complex to escape from being hit by the bullets, he added.

''By Waheguru's grace we escaped unhurt and reached our village that was 26 kms from Amritsar,'' he said.

Another gruesome incident that Fauja Singh remembers is the partition of 1947. ''I saw dead bodies of Muslims in a train that came from Amritsar at Attari railway station,'' he said while pointing out that the massacre of the Muslims was in retaliation to similar killings of Hindus.

He had gone to Attari to look for his in-law's family from village Madhogol in Pakistan.

''I even saw bodies of Hindus and Sikhs in the railway compartments of a train that arrived at the Amritsar railway station from Lahore,'' he recalled while shaking his head. ''I have lived with these unfortunate memories all these years'', he added.

Fauja alongwith his friends safely escorted about 200 Muslims of his own village to Pakistan through the Dera Baba Nanak border during partition.

Sharing his colourful life with the hospital staff, Bapu Fauja Singh said he had three wives and nine children by them. Doctors at hospital are surprised by his good health as he was not suffering from any age-related ailment.

''Bapuji never had even cough problem and till a few years back he used to ride nearly 32 kms on a bicycle to meet his sister,'' his son Rajinder Singh, who retired as warrant officer, said.

UNI HS PA KN1550