The horrific massacre took place at Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab's Amritsar in April 1919 when the British Indian Army troops fired from their rifles at a gathering holding a pro-independence demonstration

London: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret for Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar in Punjab. Speaking in the British Parliament while marking the 100th anniversary of the tragic incident, May described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a "shameful scar" on the British Indian history.

However, she stopped short of a formal apology. "We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused," said May.

"The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a shameful scar on British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India," she stated.

May read her statement at the beginning of her weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. A cross-section of Parliament in previous debates had sought a formal apology over the incident.

The horrific massacre took place at Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab's Amritsar in April 1919 when the British Indian Army troops, under the command of Colonel Dyer, fired from their rifles at a crowd holding a pro-independence demonstration. Thousands of lives were lost in the tragedy and thousands of others were left injured.

In February, the Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution to pressurise the Centre for seeking a formal apology from the British government "for one of the worst ever bloodbaths in the world".

The resolution said that a formal apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre would be a befitting tribute to the martyrs. 

"It was a dastardly act perpetrated upon the innocent people who had converged at the Jallianwala Bagh on the fateful day of Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, to protest against the Rowlatt Act of the Imperial rulers," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra had said. 

"Even the British government of the time had realised the gravity of the irresponsible act, as is evident in the premature superannuation of General Dyer from the British Army," the Minister had said, mentioning that Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore had also refused to accept the title of Knighthood in protest.