The mass killing of unarmed civilians by British troops at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, on 13 April 1919, one of the most notorious atrocities of British rule in India.
- Took place on 13 April 1919 (Baisakhi day) when a large crowd, including women and children, had gathered in a walled garden to protest the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of leaders.
- Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire without warning on the trapped crowd; the only narrow exit was blocked, and firing continued until ammunition ran low.
- Official British figures put the dead at 379 (with about 1,200 wounded); Indian estimates were much higher.
- The Hunter Commission (1919 to 1920) inquired into the event and censured Dyer, who was relieved of command but faced no criminal trial.
- Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest; Gandhi gave up the Kaisar-i-Hind title; the massacre fuelled the Non-Cooperation Movement.
It is a defining human-rights atrocity of colonial rule, tied to the Rowlatt Act and the Hunter Commission, and a recurring objective and essay topic.
The massacre (13 April 1919) was a consequence of the agitation against the Rowlatt Act; Udham Singh later assassinated Michael O'Dwyer (the Punjab Lieutenant Governor who backed Dyer) in London in 1940.
13 April 1919: General Dyer's firing on an unarmed crowd at Amritsar; 379 official dead; Hunter Commission inquiry; Tagore renounced his knighthood.