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The first shots of the great revolt of 1857 were fired at Meerut on May 10th. The morning of May 11th, the rebel troops crossed over the bridge of boats over the Yamuna. Regiment after regiment under command of the British officers refused to open fire on fellow Indians. The massacre of Europeans and Indian Christians began. Daryaganj, then largely inhabited by Europeans and Indian Christians was thoroughly scoured and every Christian was put to the sword. Mirza Galib, the famous Urdu poet, was an eyewitness to the entire drama of the first war of independence and the subsequent restoration of British Authority. The British regrouped at various vantage points and one column was able to blast open the Kashmere Gate. The Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and Begum Zeenat Mahal surrendered to Captain Hodsun on September 21st, 1857. The next day Captain Hodsun arrested the princes Mirza Mughal, Khizr Sultan and Mirza Abu Bakr at Humayun's tomb. Soon after, near the Khuni Darwaza he ordered the princes to take off their upper garments and killed them one by one. The three bodies were carried to the Kotwali and stripped off all the clothes except a rag around their loins, and laid on stone slabs outside the building before they were buried. All excuses offered by Hodsun for his brutal conduct were dismissed and described even by English historians as an outrage against humanity. All the important mosques namely. Jama Masjid, Masjid Fatehpuri and Masjid Kalan were occupied by the British Forces. Jama Masjid was restored to the Muslims after a period of 5 years on making a payment of Rs. 2 lacs |
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