History at the end of tunnel: Soon, walk through British-era gallows in Delhi

NEW DELHI: You could soon get to walk in a tunnel going from the current Delhi assembly building towards Red Fort or see the British-installed gallows room there. The assembly plans to make these into tourist attractions. The tunnel is reported to have been used by the British in colonial times to bring prisoners, mostly nationalist revolutionaries, to the building, which then served as a court. The gallows room was the site where prisoners were hanged to death.
The tunnel has three approaches, one towards the gallows, another towards the Speaker’s chair where a witness box was once located, and the third in the direction of Red Fort. The portion of the tunnel going towards the witness box is still intact. It is around 15-feet long, six feet high and four feet wide. The floor is unpaved and the walls are made of bricks. The roof appears to be made with wood and stones. The mouth of the tunnel opens in the assembly hall and is covered with a toughened glass panel. No further digging is possible because the tunnel is now blocked, possibly by the Delhi Metro alignment and sewerage.

The gallows area is located above an office chamber and is accessible by iron stairs. Some revolutionaries are believed to have been executed there. It has remained shut after Independence.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the tunnel and the renovated gallows room will be thrown open for the public before August 15 next year. “The visitors will be allowed in only when the assembly is not in session,” he said. The tunnel will neither be renovated nor further digging take place. “We will allow the public to see it as it is, but no visitor will be permitted to go into the tunnel, only see it at its mouth,” added Goel.
The Speaker said that the process of getting the historical sites ready for public viewing had started. “Tenders have been floated and PWD will soon begin the required work,” he said.
The historical significance of the tunnel is yet to be established but it is believed it connected the court with Red Fort and was used to bring prisoners without exposing them to public view. An Archaeological Survey of India official, however, said no such tunnel had been discovered at Red Fort.
The building, which currently houses the Delhi legislative assembly, was built in 1911 as the Central Legislative Assembly after the shift of the colonial capital from Kolkata to Delhi. The legislature moved to the current Parliament House in 1926 and the older building became a court.
The assembly is also preparing to offer other tourist attractions, like showcasing the history of the freedom struggle digitally.