Shaheed Udham Singh gets his due

Life has taken a full circle for Jeet Singh (55).

On April 13, 1919, hundreds of Indians had been massacred on Baisakhi in Jallianwala Bagh. Following the bloodshed, Udham Singh killed Michael O'Dwyer, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, who had ordered the massacre. Jeet is Udham Singh’s grandson.

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Circa 2011, on the eve of Baisakhi, Jeet Singh was felicitated at a ceremony as a mark of honour to the great martyr, his grandfather. He was handed over a cheque of R11 lakh collected through the contributions of Lokmat Media group and also from some individual philanthropists.

“Almost 92 years after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and 72 years after Udham Singh’s martyrdom (July 31, 1940), it’s a tragedy that Jeet Singh is living in anonymity and penury in Punjab,” said Shivnath Jha.

Jha, a journalist, and his wife Neena also brought out a book Forgotten Indian Heroes and Martyrs: Their Neglected Descendants chronicling the lives of more than 22 families of descendants of the martyrs of India's freedom struggle on the occasion. Rajya Sabha MP and founder of Lokmat media group Vijay Darda said he will take up the cause of these martyrs’ families in Parliament and will try to work for their rehabilitation.