O'Dwyer and several other senior officials and military officers supported Dyer's actions both initially when only limited information was received and later when more detailed information of the scale of the killings became available. Subsequently, martial law was imposed on 15 April and was back dated to 30 March. As a result, his actions are considered one of the most significant factors in the rise of the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. On 21 April 1919, in Dyer's defence, O'Dwyer stated to Viceroy Chelmsford "the Amritsar business cleared the air, and if there was to be holocaust anywhere, and one regrets that there should be, it was best at Amritsar".