>Tubesleveret15 at 21:38, 19 June 2021

2021-06-19T21:38:00Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2015}}
[[File:IIT Kharagpur Old Building 1951.jpg|thumb|300px|The administrative building of Hijli Detention Camp (September 1951)]]
'''Hijli Detention Camp''' (now called '''Shaheed Bhavan''', [[IIT Kharagpur]]),<ref>{{cite web|title=Pan IIT Speech for IIT Alumni Warwich|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/people/chairman/speeches/paniitspeechdraft3.pdf|website=www2.warwick.ac.uk|publisher=University of Warwick|access-date=15 August 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018005256/http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/people/chairman/speeches/paniitspeechdraft3.pdf|archive-date=18 October 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> is a former detention camp operated during the period of [[British Raj|British colonial rule in India]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur|url=http://www.iitjodhpur.com/iit_khadagpur.php|website=iitjodhpur.com|access-date=2 July 2014}}</ref> Located in Hijli, beside [[Kharagpur]], (a part of former [[Hijli Kingdom]]) in the district of [[Midnapore West]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]], it played a significant role in the [[Indian independence movement]] of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The large numbers of those who participated in armed struggles or the [[non-cooperation movement]] against the British could not be accommodated in ordinary jails. The British colonial government decided to establish a few detention camps; the first one was located in Buxa Fort followed by the creation of Hijli Detention Camp in 1930. A significant moment in the Indian independence movement occurred at here in 1931 when two unarmed detainees, [[Santosh Kumar Mitra]] and [[Tarakeswar Sengupta]], were shot dead by the [[Indian Imperial Police]].<ref name=hdc2>{{cite web|title=Hijli Saheed Bhavan|url=http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/nehru_museum/hijlishaheed%20bhavan.html|website=iitkgp.ac.in|access-date=2 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414164515/http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/nehru_museum/hijlishaheed%20bhavan.html|archive-date=14 April 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] came to Hijli to collect their bodies for interment. Many Indian nationalists, including Nobel laureate [[Rabindranath Tagore]], voiced strong protests against the British Raj over this incident.<ref name=hdc3>{{cite web|title=Kharagpur's legend|url=http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1909/19090840.htm|website=hindu.com|access-date=2 July 2014}}</ref> The firing which later known as "Hijli firing" is the only incident of police firing inside a detention camp.<ref name=hdc1>{{cite web|title=IIT-Kharagpur remembers its Hijli Jail days|url=http://www.financialexpress.com/news/iitkharagpur-remembers-its-hijli-jail-days/130948|website=financialexpress.com|access-date=2 July 2014}}</ref>

The detention camp was closed in 1937 and was reopened in 1940. In 1942 it was closed for the final time and the detainees were transferred elsewhere. During the [[World War II|Second World War]] it was occupied by the [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]].<ref name="hdc2"/>

Today, the camp is also known for being the birthplace of [[IIT Kharagpur|Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur]], which started in 1951.<ref name=hdc4>{{cite web|title=Speech of the hon'ble president of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the 58th annual convocation of IIT Kharagpur|url=http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp150912.html|website=presidentofindia.nic.in|access-date=2 July 2014}}</ref> In 1990, a part of the former detention camp buildings were converted to house the [[Nehru Museum of Science and Technology]].

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050313183514/http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/nehru.php Nehru Museum of Science & Technology]

{{Paschim Medinipur topics}}

{{coord missing|West Bengal}}

[[Category:Internment camps]]
[[Category:World War II internment camps]]
[[Category:Indian independence movement]]

{{India-hist-stub}}

Hijli Detention Camp - Revision history

>Tubesleveret15 at 21:38, 19 June 2021