Produced by: Manoj Kumar
In 1947, a British lawyer who had never set foot in India landed in Delhi—with five weeks to divide a subcontinent. Cyril Radcliffe knew nothing of the land he would forever scar.
Radcliffe had just 36 days to split 450,000 square kilometers of land, countless villages, and over 400 million people—based mostly on incomplete maps and hurried reports.
With deadlocks between Indian and Pakistani reps, Radcliffe made the final border decisions himself. The result? The infamous Radcliffe Line—announced after independence, sparking chaos.
His boundary led to the forced migration of over 10–14 million people. At its peak, 40,000 people per day were uprooted—many by foot, train, or cart, often amid brutal violence.
Entire towns were bisected overnight. Families found themselves in different countries. Cities like Lahore and Amritsar were ripped apart by a line drawn in a London office.
Radcliffe deliberately left Kashmir unresolved, handing the flashpoint to future generations. That blank space became the center of three wars and decades of border bloodshed.
Horrified by the consequences, Radcliffe refused his £2,000 fee, burned his papers, and never returned to India. He later admitted: “I had no alternative. The time was too short.”
The Radcliffe Line remains at the core of India-Pakistan hostility—fueling wars, insurgencies, and nationalist rage. One man’s rushed decision turned borders into battlegrounds.
Radcliffe didn’t design partition—but he built its bloodiest blueprint. Historians now see him as a tragic figure: out of depth, out of time, and burdened by a line that never stopped bleeding.