Chauri Chaura, village in eastern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Chauri Chaura came to prominence during the struggle for Indian independence after a violent incident between the British Indian police and political activists. On February 4, 1922, supporters of the Khilafat movement and the Indian National Congress clashed with local police. An angry mob subsequently set the local police station on fire, killing 22 Indian policemen who had taken shelter inside. The incident dealt a blow to the nonviolent noncooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, who denounced the violence in Chauri Chaura and called off a campaign of civil disobedience that he had been about to launch in Bardoli, Gujarat state.