To the Hunter Commission, General Dyer admitted it.
On 14 November 1919, almost eight months after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, a committee was formed after orders were issued by Edwin Montagu, the Secretary of State of India. The committee consisted of:
Lord Hunter, Chairman of the Commission
Mr. Justice George C. Rankin of Calcutta
Sir Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University and advocate of the Bombay High Court
Mr W.F. Rice, member of the Home Department
Major-General Sir George Barrow, KCB, KCMG, GOC Peshawar Division
Pandit Jagat Narayan, lawyer and Member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces
Mr. Thomas Smith, Member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces
Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Khan, lawyer from Gwalior State
Mr H.C. Stokes, Secretary of the Commission and member of the Home Department
On 19 November, after the commission had listened to witnesses, and then heard General Dyer. Dyer refused to be represented by legal counsel, he stated that he had gone to deliberately open fire if he found a crowd there. He said: "I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself." He reiterated his belief that the crowd in the Bagh was one of "rebels who were trying to isolate my forces and cut me off from other supplies. Therefore, I considered it my duty to fire on them and to fire well".
After Mr. Justice Rankin had questioned Dyer, Sir Chimanlal Setalvad questioned him.
Here's how the conversation unfolded:
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘You took two armoured cars with you?’
Dyer: ‘Yes.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘Those cars had machine guns?’
Dyer: ‘Yes.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘And when you took them you meant to use the machine guns against the crowd, did you?”
Dyer: ‘If necessary. If the necessity arose, and I was attacked, or anything else like that, I presume I would have used them.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘When you arrived there you were not able to take the armoured cars in because the passage was too narrow?’
Dyer: ‘Yes.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘Supposing the passage was sufficient to allow the armoured cars to go in, would you have opened fire with the machine guns?’
Dyer: ‘I think, probably, yes.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘In that case the casualties would have been very much higher?’
Dyer: ‘Yes.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘And you did not open fire with the machine guns simply by the accident of the armoured cars not being able to get in?’
Dyer: ‘I have answered you. I have said that if they had been there the probability is that I would have opened fire with them.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘With the machine guns straight?’
Dyer: ‘With the machine guns.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘I take it that your idea in taking that action was to strike terror?’
Dyer: ‘Call it what you like. I was going to punish them. My idea from the military point of view was to make a wide impression.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘To strike terror not only in the city of Amritsar, but throughout the Punjab?’
Dyer: ‘Yes, throughout the Punjab. I wanted to reduce their morale; the morale of the rebels.’
Chimanlal Setalvad: ‘Did it occur to you that by adopting this method of “frightfulness” –excuse the term-you were really doing a great disservice to the British Raj by driving discontent deep?’
Dyer: ‘I did not like the idea of doing it, but I also realized that it was the only means of saving life and that any reasonable man with justice in his mind would realize that I had done the right thing; it was a merciful though horrible act and they ought to be thankful to me for doing it. I thought I would be doing a jolly lot of good and they would realize that they were not to be wicked.’
Read more about the horrible incident here...
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 "Jallianwallah Bagh Massacre")
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