JAGAT SIṄGH alias Jai Siṅgh (1883-1915), a leading Ghadr revolutionary, was born about 1883, the son of Arūṛ Siṅgh, at Sursiṅgh, a village in Lahore (now Amritsar) district. He was a hefty, sturdy man and joined the Indian army when twenty. Leaving the army, he migrated to Shanghai and to Canada and settled in Vancouver where he found employment in a saw-mill. There he was drawn into the Ghadr revolutionary movement. As the World War broke out in 1914, he returned to India by a Japanese ship with a view to joining the uprising against the British. The Canadian authorities reported to the Indian government his revolutionary activities and charged him with the murder in Vancouver of Harnām Siṅgh, a loyalist. In the Punjab, Jagat Siṅgh became a close associate of Ghadr leaders, such as Kartār Siṅgh Sarābhā. He took part in the Chabbā, Sāhnevāl, and Mansūrāṅ dacoities, looted money which was turned over to the revolutionary centre, and offered to sell his land for the cause. He also helped in the manufacture of bombs. He escaped arrest when the revolution was betrayed by a police spy, Kirpāl Siṅgh. In company with Kartār Siṅgh Sarābhā and Harnām Siṅgh Tuṇḍīlāt, Jagat Siṅgh made his way to Kābul. They returned to the Punjab, determined to seize arms and free their imprisoned comrades. They were arrested, however, at Sargodhā, where they were attempting to seduce the soldiers of the 22nd Cavalry to which Jagat Siṅgh had once belonged.

         Tried in the first Lahore conspiracy case, Jagat Siṅgh was sentenced to death. He was hanged on 16 November 1915 along with Kartār Siṅgh Sarābhā.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Puri, Harish K., Ghadr Movement. Amritsar, 1983
  2. Mohan, Kamlesh, Militant Nationalism in the Punjab 1919-35. Delhi, 1985
  3. Kehar Singh, Bhai, and Kirpal Singh, eds., Struggle for Free Hindustan, vol. I. Delhi, 1986
  4. Jagjīt Siṅgh, Ghadr Pārṭī Lahir. Delhi, 1979

Gurdev Siṅgh Deol