Brigadier-General Dyer Brigadier-General Dyer

The reason why Jallianwala Bagh evokes such sharp reactions is because of the manner in which the government in Britain dealt with the perpetrators of the massacre.

Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer and his actions were backed by Punjab Governor Sir Michael O'Dwyer and the colonial government of India headed by Lord Chelmsford.

Dyer belonged to an European family which ran the well known Dyer-Meakin (now Mohan Meakin) brewery at Solan in Himachal Pradesh. An inquiry headed by Lord Hunter was ordered in July 1919, two months after the massacre.

During its proceedings, Dyer incriminated himself by declaring that he had ordered the firing on an unarmed crowd for making "a wide impression" and producing a "sufficient moral effect from a military point of view throughout Punjab".

So compelling was the evidence of misconduct collected by Lord Hunter in the next three months that Whitehall was forced to act. But all it did was to offer a mild censure by removing Dyer from active service.

At the same time it absolved Governor O'Dwyer and Viceroy Lord Chelmsford of all blame. The government's decision was ratified in the House of Commons by 232 votes to 131. On the other hand, the House of Lords carried another resolution 129 votes to 89 deploring the removal of General Dyer.

The British elite was however divided. The arch-imperialist Winston Churchill condemned it as a "monstrous event, an event which stood in singular and sinister isolation " But, Dyer and O'Dwyer had admirers in India and England. They collected Euro 26,000 and presented it to Dyer along with a golden sword.

In fact, the Golden Temple management (the predecessor of the SGPC) presented Dyer a kirpan (sword) and a siropa (turban).

O'Dwyer, who was subsequently shot by Udham Singh, received his own fund, towards which some of the Punjabi elite like Kunj Bihari Thapar, Umar Hayat Khan, Chaudhary Gajjan Singh and Rai Bahadur Lal Chand contributed Rs 1.75 lakh.