Dagshai Central Jail & Museum

Dagshai Jail museum was inaugurated by Major General SK Gadeock on 13th Oct 2011 for the public.[6]

Even the military jail in Dagshai Cantonment is a witness of Mahatma Gandhi's arrival in Himachal Pradesh. Britishers used to keep rogue soldiers in here. Nations father The Mahatma Gandhi himself spent two days here. However, not as a prisoner but he was here to meet the Irish prisoners. Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse was also kept in this very prison, interestingly he was believed to be the last prisoner of this jail.[7]

At most, 50 prisoners were kept here and after the independence it was converted into the museum.[8]

The Dagshai Jail Museum is unique as it is the only jail museum in India. The establishment of the museum in 2011 was due to the great vision and drive of Kasauli's Brigade Commander, Brig. Ananth Narayanan.

Anand Sethi, a local resident of Dagshai Hills helped him in the curation of this museum with vintage and archival photographs and other material sourced from India, the U.K. and Ireland.[1]

The Dagshai jail was constructed in the year 1849 at a cost of Rs 72,873. It has 54 maximum security cells. These cells are 8’x12’ with 20-foot high ceilings.

The little hamlet was born nearly a century and a half ago, in 1847, by the East India Company by securing 5 villages at no expense from the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala.[3]

The museums in the jail compound of old photographs of houses which recreates the history of the place and some memorabilia from the British rule period. The architecture of both the jail and the museum are typical British in green color.[4]

These were for prisoners guilty of treachery, who were subjected to cruel chastisement, barricaded windows and doors.[3]

Apart from the jail there's also the Dagshai Heritage museum. You can see photos of Steam Engines, railway lines, old customs of Dagshai, a brief mention of monkey point and some old notes on what this place was like during the war times.[6]

Old Roman catholic European Cementary Gate (1845) Dagshai

Other nearby places of interest are Old Cemetery which was established in 1845, Catholic Church and a graveyard.

1. It is the only jail museum in India.
2. Mahatma Gandhi was kept here for a few days.
3. Nobody ever escaped from this jail.
4. The area around Dagshai has about 11 forts constructed by the Nepalese Gurkhas under the great General Amar Singh Thapa, when they ruled this part of North India from 1805 to 1816. One of these forts, at Banasar is on a hill South of Dagshai.[1]
5. There’s also a graveyard with graves that date back to the early 1800s. The aura is spooky and mendacious.[3]
6. There is only one VIP cell in the jail.[2]
7. Outside the courtyard of the cell, one can see the solid gun-metal fire hydrant made in 1865 in the UK.[9]
   

   Fire hydrant (1865) Dagshai Jail Museum
8. Anand Sethi, a military historian and long-time resident of Dagshai whose father, Balkrishan Sethi was the first Indian to be a Cantonment Executive Officer (1941–42), is the man behind the project who funded the project and collaborated with the Army to make the museum come alive.[9]