22 revolutionaries were crushed to death under 'kolhu' in Sonepat village

Mukesh Tandon

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Sonepat, May 9

Liwaspur village in Sonepat district was also a centre of the First Freedom Struggle in the area in 1857 in which 22 revolutionaries were crushed to death under a “kolhu”, a roller made of stone.

The leader of the youths was tied to a tree after nailing his palms and legs. He died after nearly three weeks.

Udmi Ram, nambardar of the village, was the unsung hero of the revolution. He, along with his wife Ratni Devi, was also tied to a peepal tree and nailed in both palms and legs, and left to starve to death.

The “kolhu”, a testimony to the cruelty of the British, has been kept on a platform in the Tau Devi Lal park on NH-44 for public display. The park’s maintenance is under the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), but the platform on which this historic “kolhu” has been placed is in a state of utter neglect.

The tiles of the platform are broken and the signboard on which the history of the “kolhu” was written is lying on side and is badly rusted. There are no arrangements to highlight the historical value of this “kolhu”.

Lachman Singh, aged 96 and a descendant of martyr Udmi Ram, told The Tribune that their village had played a great role in the Freedom Movement in 1857. The colonial rulers destroyed the village three times, but it was again developed by its people, he said.

Our elders told us that Udmi Ram, along with other revolutionaries, fought the British rulers with spears, choppers and swords etc. He along with his accomplices had killed many Britishers in 1857.

After some days, the British army surrounded the village from all sides with tanks and demanded to produce three men, Udmi Ram Nambardar, Gulab and Sehaj Ram, he said.

Attar Singh, a 66-year-old resident, said Udmi Ram had called 22 youths from the village and killed the British army officials and others. But, Sita Ram, a resident of Rathdhana village had given information of Udmi Ram and other rebellions to the British and after that arrested them and took them away with them, he added.

The British tied Udmi Ram and his wife Ratni Devi with a peepal tree and nailed their hands and legs and was left them to die without food and water, he said. The cruelty of the British did not end there, they crushed the 22 youths to death by laying them on ground and crushed them to death with this “kolhu”, he added. Some of our villagers were hanged, while others were sent to “Kala Pani”, said Attar Singh.

The British rewarded traitor Sita Ram when they auctioned the entire 2700 bigha land of Liwaspur village in his favour for a paltry Rs 200 as lagan after the mutiny was over, Attar Singh added.

We have been fighting for the ownership of our own land for the past 165 years and many cases are still pending in courts, he said.

Memorial in a state of neglect

The “kolhu”, a testimony to the cruelty of the British, has been kept on a platform in the Tau Devi Lal Park on NH-44 for public display. The park’s maintenance is under the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, but the platform on which this historic “kolhu” has been placed is in a state of utter neglect.