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When Indians were guinea pigs

LONDON: In what is likely to go down as one of the most horrific untold stories of the raj, it has emerged that hundreds of Indian soldiers were used as guinea pigs by colonial British military scientists in experiments which involved exposing them to potentially lethal mustard gas.

While the use of British soldiers in chemical trials is known, the cruelty heaped on Indian soldiers had been a dirty secret of the colonial British army so far. It has now been disclosed that individual Indian soldiers were treated more cruelly than their British counterparts who took part in similar trials.

According to newly-discovered documents, revealed by The Guardian, the trials were conducted over a period of ten years before and during the Second World War and took place at a military installation in Rawalpindi, then in undivide d India.

Exactly how many Indian soldiers were used in these trials is not known but the number is believed to run into “hundreds.” Many of them reportedly suffered severe burns. It is alleged that the army did not even care to check them for after-effects. Many British soldiers, subjected to similar tests, have since complained of long-term health problems.

The trials were part of a programme run by scientists from the Porton Down chemical weapons centre in Wiltshire, to develop deadly gases for use against the Japanese. Ever since its inception in 1916, the centre has been mired in controversies including accusations that soldiers were often administered hazardous drugs without their consent.

There are doubts whether Indian soldiers, who took part in the experiments, were asked for their consent. A lawyer representing British victims of Porton Down tests was reported as saying that he would be “astonished” if they gave any meaningful consent. “No one would have agreed… if they knew before what was going to happen,” he said.

According to The Guardian journalist Rob Evans who has written extensively on the secret programmes of Porton Down scientists, the trials started in the early 1930s when scientists at Porton Down wanted to find out if mustard gas &# 8220;inflicted greater damage on Indian skin compared with British skin.”

“More than 500 Britons and Indians were exposed to mustard gas,” he wrote on Saturday. In some cases Indian soldiers were exposed to mustard gas protected only by a respirator and “on one occasion the gas mask of an Indian sepoy slipped, leaving with severe burns on his eyes and face,” he said citing documents he found at the National Archives.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence said: “The studies undertaken at the Chemical Defence Research Establishment in India included defensive research, weapons research and psychological research. These studies supported those conducted in simulated conditions in the U.K. in a different environment.”

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When Indians were guinea pigs

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