Jind Kaur - Imprisonment

Imprisonment

After the war the British rewarded the Sikhs who had helped them, including Tej Singh. However, the Sikh commanders were seething at what they saw as his treachery. When in August 1847 Duleep Singh refused to invest Tej Singh as Raja of Sialkot, the British Resident, Henry Lawrence, imprisoned the Maharani in the Samman Tower of the Lahore Fort and, ten days later, moved her to the fortress in Sheikhupura and reduced her pension to 48,000 rupees. The bitterest blow to the Maharani was the separation from her 9 year old son. She wrote to Lawrence imploring him to return Duleep to her. "He has no sister, no brother. He has no uncle, senior or junior. His father he has lost. To whose care has he been entrusted?" She did not see her son again for thirteen and a half years.

The following year, the new British Resident, Sir Frederick Currie, described her as "the rallying point of rebellion" and exiled her from the Punjab. She was taken to the Chunar Fort, about 45 km from Varanesi, and her jewellery was taken from her. Her treatment by the two Residents caused deep resentment among Sikhs. The Muslim ruler of neighbouring Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad Khan, protested that such treatment is objectionable to all creeds.

A year later she escaped from the Chunar Fort, disguised as a servant, and was given asylum in Nepal, where she remained in virtual imprisonment for 11 years. She arrived penniless at Kathmandu on 29 April 1849 and was assigned a residence at Thapathall and an allowance by the Nepalese government. The British Resident in Kathmandu kept an eye on her, believing that she was still intriguing to revive the Sikh dynasty. Under British pressure the Prime Minister of Nepal, Jung Bahadour, imposed a series of humiliations.