After nearly more than eight decades, a Pakistani lawyer, Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, has moved the Lahore High Court to establish innocence of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Many Pakistanis, especially in the Punjabi-speaking Lahore area, consider Bhagat Singh a hero even today. Singh, along with two other revolutionaries, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru, were executed by the British authorities in Lahore jail on 23 March 1931, for their alleged crime to kill the Assistant Superintendent of Police, John Saunders on 17 December 1927, following an “unfair trial” where no cross examination was allowed. On 23 March, as is named Martyrs Day, also known as Shaheed Diwas or Sarvoday Day, Indians pay homage to the martyrs who infused fresh blood in the fight for India’s independence. Pakistan does not want to lag behind since Bhagat Singh was born in Punjab’s Banga village near Jaranwala (now in Pakistan).
The Pakistani lawyer, Qureshi, who runs Bhagat Singh’s Memorial Foundation, says the martyr was an ardent freedom fighter who lit the eternal flame of liberty and went to the gallows for the sake of freedom of the motherland. The founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had twice paid tribute to him in the erstwhile Central Legislative Assembly. Bhagat Singh decided to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death by killing the Superintendent of Police, J.A. Scott. Rai’s death was caused due to the blows on him ordered by Scott, during a procession in Lahore on 30 October 1928. The Editor of Punjab Kesari and a prominent freedom fighter, Rai, died on 17 November 1928.On 17 December 1928, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot and Sauders was killed instead of Scott. A. G. Noorani, a celebrated Indian writer and Supreme Court Lawyer, records minutest details in his book, “The Trial of Bhagat Singh : Politics of Justice”. He notes: “Only hours after the deed did he realized that it was not Scott but his junior whom he and his colleague Rajguru had killed. The posters were corrected to substitute Sauders’ name for Scott’s. “Sauders is dead, Lalaji is avenged.”
Noorani adds: “He did not rest on his oars, either. From the gun, he moved to the bomb. On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwer Dutt each threw a bomb in the chamber of the Central Legislature, while it was in session, and scattered leaflets, besides. The intention was not to kill and none was. Six members of the Assembly were injured. The intention was to deliver a message which is why Bhagat Singh fired two unaimed shots from the pistol. They disdained escape and readily gave themselves up.” The pistol seized from Bhagat Singh in the Assembly was afterwords proved to have been used in the Saunders’ murder. On 12 June 1929, both were sentenced to transportation for life. A month later, the trial for the Sauders’ murder began in Lahore.
Owing to the slow pace of the legal proceedings, a special tribunal consisting of Justice J. Coldstream, Justice Agha Hyder and Justice GC Hilton was set up on the directives of the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, on 1 May 1930.The tribunal was empowered to proceed without the presence of the accused and was a one- sided trial that hardly adhered to the normal legal rights guidelines. The tribunal delivered its 300-page judgement on 7 October 1930.It declared that irrefutable proof has been presented confirming the involvement of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru in the Saunders murder. Bhagat Singh admitted to the murder and made statements against the British rule during the trial. They were sentenced to be hanged till death. Meanwhile, in jail, Bhagat Singh and his fellow inmates declared an indefinite hunger strike in protest of the prejudiced difference in treatment of the white versus native prisoners and demanded to be recognized as ‘political prisoners’. The hunger strike received tremendous attention from the press and gathered major public support in favour of their demands. Death of Jatindra Nath Das, after 63 days long fast, led to the negative public opinions intensifying towards the authorities. Bhagat Singh finally broke his 116-day fast, on request of his father, Kishen Singh, and Congress leadership, on 5 October 1929.
Quaid-e- Azam Jinnah raised the issue of the hunger strike and spoke for two days from 12 September 1929, on the Hunger-Strike Bill, making trial in’absentia lawful. He did spell-bound the House. He told the House, presided over by Vitthalbhai Patel, “The man who goes on hunger-strike has a soul and he believes in the justice of his cause”. He said: “Mind you, Sir, I do not approve of the action of Bhagat Singh, and I say this on the floor of this House. I regret that, rightly or wrongly, youth today in India is stirred up, and you cannot, when you have three hundred and odd millions of people, you cannot prevent such crimes being committed, however much you deplore them and however much you may say that they are misguided. It is the system, this damnable system of Government, which is resented by the people.”
Mahatma Gandhi was negotiating with the Viceroy Irwin. The whole of India was expecting him to reach some sort of agreement with the Viceroy so that the death sentence on Bhagat Singh and others would be commuted to transportation of life. Gandhi did not approve of violence of any sort, but he did take up the issue with Irwin. The Viceroy was positive on that but he faced some administrative difficulties after the Privy Council had rejected such petition.
Kuldip Nair reveals Irwin’s difficulty in his book, “Without Fear: The Life & Trial of Bhagat Singh”: “One explanation the Congress offered was that Irwin promised Gandhi he would commute the death sentence to life imprisonment but he went back on his word when senior British ICS officers threatened to resign en bloc if the three men were not hanged.”
The British authorities secretly executed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on 23 March 1931, one week before the Congress Convention under the presidentship of Sardar Patel was to be held at Karachi. The youngsters of India were furious with Gandhi, even presented black flowers in protest when he along with other Congress leaders came. The Congress passed a resolution presented by Pandit Nehru and seconded by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. The Sardar paid glowing tributes to Bhagat Singh and his comrades in his address. He condemned the British Government as heartless. “I cannot identify myself with their methods. I have no doubt that political murder is no less reprehensible than any other; but the patriotism, the daring and the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and his comrades command my admiration.” Bhagat Singh’s father also had addressed the convention to convey that his son’s last wish to be hanged.
Next Column: Hidden Facts Revealed by Dr. Karan Singh
(The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail: [email protected] )
