Mewat residents seek recognition for martyrs of 1857

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, January 25

Residents of Mewat region have been seeking recognition for more than 600 persons, who laid their lives during the uprising of 1857.

The residents claimed that their ancestors were massacred by the ‘gauri fauj’ (East India Company Army) for raising the banner of Independence. The residents are demanding that the state government should recognise them as martyrs. They also want the story of their ancestors to be included in the books of Haryana Board of School Education, and roads and streets should be named after the ‘martyrs’.

Most people, who were killed, belonged to Roopraka village of Palwal block. During the Congress regime a minaret, which the locals call ‘Shaheed Minar’, was erected to commemorate them but it is now lying in ruins due to apathy of the government. Even the names of martyrs, which were engraved on the minarets, have started vanishing. Similarly, minarets built in others villages such as Nagina, Nuh and Mahu have also started crumbling.

Residents of Roopraka say more than 425 persons of the village were hanged to death by the East India Company on November 19, 1857. The massacre was amongst several others carried out to supress the mutiny in Mewat region between November 8, 1857, and December 7, 1858. The 1,700 families living in the village claim to be descendants of the martyrs.

“Our ancestors were on the frontlines during the uprising. The account of their bravery has been passed down from generation to generation. We have grown up hearing how the ‘gauri fauj’ raided the village, caught the mutineers and hanged them. It is claimed that there weren’t enough trees in our village so the British hanged three people from same rope on one tree,” Abida Kahtun (86) a resident of the village, said.

The villagers celebrate November 19 annually as martyrdom day. In neighbouring villages such as Mahu in Punhana block similar massacres were carried out by the British.

According to the Gazzetter, the revolt of 1857 reached Gurugram and Mewat on May 11. Around 300 sepoys had reached Gurgaon (now known as Gurugram) from Delhi, who were then joined by local peasants and feudal lords, including Nawab Ahmed Mirza Khan and Nawab Dula Jan from Mewat. W Ford, who was then Collector-cum-Magistrate of Gurgaon, fled the region as the rebels set Europeans houses on fire and captured the treasury. They declared freedom on May 13. The British retaliated by sending their armies to attack Tohana, Jind, Roopraka, Kot and Malpuri.

Forgotten heroes

Rebels from Mewat played a major role in the First War of Independence but they have been forgotten. We are a group of historians who have collected names of martyrs hailing from the region to give them their due recognition. — Sarfuddin Mewati, president, all india martyrdom mewat sabha