Diwan Singh Kalepani

Diwan Singh Kalepani was a British-employed doctor who became a community leader in the Andaman Islands. Occupying Japanese forces later tortured him to death, for defying their demands.

Must Know

• Diwan Singh Kalepani was born on 22 May 1897, in Sialkot district, present-day Pakistan.
• He trained as a doctor, and served in the Army Medical Services.
• In 1927, the British transferred him to Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, largely as punishment for his nationalist sympathies.
• There, he worked in the Cellular Jail, treating political prisoners.
• In 1937, he built a Gurdwara in Port Blair, open to people of all faiths, along with schools and a library.
• This community work earned him the name “Kalepani,” after the Cellular Jail’s own nickname.
• When Japanese forces occupied the Andaman Islands, in 1942, islanders elected him their spokesman.
• He resisted Japanese demands over the Gurdwara and medical supplies, and was arrested as a suspected spy, in October 1943.

Good to Know

• He also wrote Punjabi poetry. His anthology Vagde Pani was published in 1938.
• A second collection, Antim Lehran, appeared after his death, in 1962.
• During the Japanese occupation, he also served as chief medical officer, and chaired a local Peace Committee.
• He was imprisoned in the very Cellular Jail he had once worked in — this time as a Japanese prisoner, not a British employee.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Diwan Singh Kalepani was born in 1897, in which district?

Amritsar

Sialkot

Lahore

Ludhiana

 Loading…

 

Great to Know

• He endured around 82 days of torture, including hanging and electric shocks, before his death on 14 January 1944.
• His story is a reminder that Andaman’s political prisoners suffered under both British and Japanese rule, not just one colonial power.
• A museum in his memory now stands in Siswan, Punjab, preserving his photographs and writings.