Title: The Case that Shook the Empire

Author: Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat

Publisher: Bloomsbury India

Publication date: 15 August 2019

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Review copy

Rating: 5/5

Blurb :

30 APRIL 1924.

At the Court of the King’s Bench in London, the highest court in the British Empire, an English judge and jury heard the case that would change the course of India’s history: Sir Michael O’Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab – and the man whose policies led to the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre – had filed a defamation case against Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair for having published a book in which he referred to the ‘atrocities’ committed by the Raj in Punjab.

The widely-reported trial – one of the longest in history – stunned a world that finally recognized some of the horrors being committed by the Britsh in India.

Through reports of court proceedings along with a nuanced portrait of a complicated nationalist who believed in his principles above all else, The Case that Shook the Empire reveals, for the very first time, the real details of the fateful case that marked the defining moment in India’s struggle for Independence.

My Take:

The Case that Shook the Empire talks about a case that was marked as a turning point in India’s freedom struggle and about a man who had fought for it. To know what the case was about one has to flip through the pages of Indian history. Over a century ago, on 13th April 1919, a large number of people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to peacefully protest for the arrest of two leaders Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. Many of them were villagers who came to celebrate the Sikh festival of Baisakhi.

The British troops under the command of General O’Dyer opened fire on those unarmed civilians without any warning. Thousand people were killed, over a thousand were wounded. However, the brutality didn’t end there. It continued in the form of Crawling order, Salaam order and the flogging of innocents.

Sir Sankaran Nair who couldn’t tolerate the inhuman act carried out by General O’Dyer resigned from the Viceroy’s Executive Council in protest. Later on, in his book Gandhi and Anarchy he referred to the atrocities caused by the British Raj in Punjab to which the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer filed a defamation case against Sir Nair in the Court of King’s Bench in London. The judgement was the turning point in the Indian freedom movement.

It’s incredibly important to know about the event that had changed the course of history. I remembered learning about Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at school. However, my knowledge about the Massacre was limited. It was after reading The Case that Shook the Empire I have not only got a clear understanding of what had triggered the protest that led to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, but also about an unsung hero Sir Sankaran Nair who had fought for the truth about the Massacre.

I would like to thank Bloomsbury India for providing the copy. All opinions are my own.

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