Kanpur

In the 19th century, Cawnpore was an important British garrison with barracks for 7,000 soldiers. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, 900 British men, women and children were besieged in the fortifications for 22 days by rebels under Nana Sahib Peshwa. They surrendered on the agreement that they would get safe passage to the nearby Satti Chaura Ghat whereupon they would board barges and be allowed to go by river to Allahabad.[9]

Though controversy surrounds what exactly happened at the Satti Chaura Ghat, and who fired the first shot, it is known that, soon afterwards, the departing British were shot at by the rebel sepoys and were either killed or captured. Some of the British officers later claimed that the rebels had, on purpose, placed the boats as high in the mud as possible, to cause delay. They also claimed that Nana Sahib's camp had previously arranged for the rebels to fire upon and kill all the English. Although the East India Company later accused Nana Sahib of betrayal and murder of innocent people, no evidence has ever been found to prove that Nana Sahib had pre-planned or ordered the massacre. Some historians believe that the Satti Chaura Ghat massacre was the result of confusion, and not of any plan implemented by Nana Sahib and his associates. Lieutenant Mowbray Thomson, one of the four male survivors of the massacre, believed that the rank-and-file sepoys who spoke to him did not know of the killing to come.[10]

Many were killed and the remaining 200 British women and children were brought back to shore and sent to a building called the Bibighar (the ladies' home). After some time, the commanders of the rebels decided to kill their hostages. The rebel soldiers refused to carry out orders and butchers from the nearby town were brought in to kill the hostages three days before the British entered the city on 18 July. The dismembered bodies were thrown into a deep well nearby. The British under General Neill retook the city and committed a series of retaliations against the rebel Sepoys and those civilians caught in the area, including women, children and old men. The Cawnpore Massacre, as well as similar events elsewhere, were seen by the British as justification for unrestrained vengeance.[11] "Remember Cawnpore" became a war cry for British for the rest of the rebellion.

Kanpur division which consists of seven districts, and is headed by the divisional commissioner of Kanpur, who is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of high seniority, the commissioner is the head of local government institutions (including municipal corporations) in the division, is in charge of infrastructure development in his division, and is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the division.[31][32][33][34] The district magistrate of Kanpur reports to the divisional commissioner. The current commissioner is Pradeep Kumar Mohanty.[19][20][21]

Kanpur district administration is headed by the district magistrate of Kanpur, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections held in the city. The DM is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the city.[31][35][36][37] The DM is assisted by a chief development officer; four additional district magistrates for finance/revenue, city, land acquisition, and civil supply; one city magistrat; and seven additional city magistrates.[38] The district has three tehsils viz. Sadar, Bilhaur and Ghatampur, each headed by a sub-divisional magistrate.[38] The current DM is Vijay Vishwas Pant.[19][20][21]

Kanpur district comes under the Kanpur Police Zone and Kanpur Police Range, Kanpur Zone is headed by an additional director general-ranked Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, and the Kanpur Range is headed inspector general-ranked IPS officer. The current ADG, Kanpur Zone is Avanish Chandra,[22] and IG, Kanpur Range is Alok Singh.[23]

The district police is headed by a deputy inspector general/senior superintendent of police (DIG/SSP), who is an IPS officer, and is assisted by seven superintendents of police or additional superintendents of police for east, west, south, rural area, crime, traffic and modern control, who are either IPS officers or Provincial Police Service (PPS) officers.[24] Each of the several police circles is headed by a circle officer (CO) in the rank of deputy superintendent of police.[24] The current DIG/SSP is Sonia Singh.[24]

The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by Kanpur Development Authority (KDA), which comes under the Housing Department of Uttar Pradesh government. The divisional commissioner of Kanpur acts as the ex-officio Chairman of KDA, whereas a vice chairperson, a government-appointed IAS officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority.[39] The current vice-chairman of Kanpur Development Authority is K. Vijayendra Pandian.[25][26]

Kanpur Municipal Corporation HQ

The Kanpur Municipal Corporations oversees civic activities in the city, the head of the corporation is the mayor, but the executive and administration of the corporation are the responsibility of the municipal commissioner, who is a Uttar Pradesh government-appointed Provincial Civil Service officer of high seniority. The current mayor of Kanpur is Captain (retired) Jagat Vir Singh Drona,[27] whereas the municipal commissioner is Avinash Singh.[27][28][29]

The Kanpur District Court is headed by the district judge of Kanpur, who is assisted by numerous additional district judges, civil judges (senior division) and additional civil judges. Kanpur is a notified metropolitan area by UP Government under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and therefore has a chief metropolitan magistrate, who is assisted by several metropolitan magistrates. The current district judge is Shashi Kant Shukla,[30] and the current chief metropolitan magistrate is Shabistan Aquil.[30]

Kanpur Nagar district encompasses one Lok Sabha constituency and ten Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha constituencies. The current member of parliament in Lok Sabha for Kanpur is Satyadev Pachauri.