Amrita Bazar Patrika began as a Bengali weekly in Jessore on 20 February 1868. When Lord Lytton's Vernacular Press Act of 14 March 1878 targeted Indian-languag…
Brothers Sisir Kumar and Motilal Ghose launch Amrita Bazar Patrika as a Bengali weekly on 20 February 1868, named after their village.
An epidemic forces the move to the capital of British India, where the paper starts printing in both Bengali and English.
On 14 March 1878 Lord Lytton's council lets magistrates demand bonds and securities from Indian-language papers, with no appeal to a court.
On 21 March 1878 the Patrika drops Bengali and appears as an English weekly. English papers are outside the Act.
Lord Ripon's government withdraws the Vernacular Press Act. The Patrika stays in English for good.
By the paper's tradition, a torn letter from the Viceroy's office about Kashmir is pieced together and published. The Official Secrets Act of 1889 is linked to it.
The English weekly becomes an English daily and backs nationalist causes, from Tilak's 1897 defence to the 1905 anti-Partition campaign.
Editor Tushar Kanti Ghosh gets three months for contempt over a March 1935 article about British judges.
During the Great Calcutta Killings the paper leaves its editorial columns blank for three days.
With ad revenue collapsed and debts near Rs 21 crore, the Patrika stops in 1991, after 123 years.
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