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A revolutionary’s caseA.G. Noorani

Updated about 9 hours ago

THE proceedings in court on the FIR in the case against Bhagat

Singh for the murder of SSP John P. Saunders in Lahore in 1928

indicate yet another stage in the revival of interest in Bhagat Singh in

Pakistan. Some years ago, there was a move in Lahore to build a

memorial at Shadman Chowk where he was hanged on March 23,

1931.

The fact of the murder is not doubted; nor the farce which marked the

entire legal proceedings from Bhagat Singh’s arrest till his execution.

His murder had been arranged by the British Raj. Every rule in the

book was violated.

Gandhi was hostile, partly because of his policy of non-violence, but

also because, as an Intelligence Bureau report said, Bhagat Singh’s

popularity equalled that of Gandhi. The top leaders of Congress

showed no interest in Bhagat Singh’s trial. Six of the seven

eyewitnesses collapsed.

Bhagat Singh had broken with his mentor Lala Lajpat Rai as he had

turned communal. But he was determined to avenge Rai’s death from

wounds inflicted on him by police superintendent J.A. Scott during a

procession in Lahore in October 1928. On Dec 17, Rajguru, Jai

Gopal and he shot Saunders by mistake, evading arrest. It is not

surprising that the FIR filed after Saunder’s murder cited “two

unknown gentlemen”. They might well have gone scot free had not the

evil genius Sukh Dev goaded them to go further. Bhagat Singh and

Batukeshwar Dutt lobbed bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly

in New Delhi on April 18, 1929; not with an intent to kill, but to send a

message — “it takes a loud voice to make the dead hear”. They

surrendered to the police.

They were sentenced to transportation for life on June 12, 1929. The

police in Lahore now found their man. Bhagat Singh and his

associates were put on trial before a magistrate. On July 1, 1929

proceedings in the Lahore Conspiracy Case began. Ill-treatment

forced the accused to go on a hunger strike and to refuse to appear in

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forced the accused to go on a hunger strike and to refuse to appear in

court. The government decided to amend the Criminal Procedure

Code, shockingly, to enable the court to dispense with the attendance

of an accused if he voluntarily rendered himself incapable of

remaining in court.

In speeches in the assembly in September 1929, Jinnah tore into the

government “winning applause after applause from the spellbound

house”, The Tribune reported. “The man who goes on a hunger strike

has a soul. He is moved by that soul and he believes in the justice of

his cause. He is not an ordinary criminal who is guilty of cold-blooded,

sordid, wicked crime.”

The government lost the vote on the adjournment motion to censure its

conduct. It decided on a diabolical move. The governor-general had

the power to promulgate an ordinance, subject to ratification by the

assembly or one which is not so subject. But its life was a mere six

months. On May 1, 1930, he promulgated an ordinance to set up a

three-judge tribunal to try the Lahore Conspiracy Case.

Proceedings before the magistrate were aborted. No appeal against

the tribunal’s verdict was allowed. The Lahore High Court’s

jurisdiction was ousted. The provision concerning the absentee

accused was incorporated. Judges were removable at will. A tribunal

empowered to award a sentence of death was itself under death

sentence — of six months.

The high court was barred from confirming the death sentence or

issuing a writ of habeas corpus. Three judges of the Lahore High

Court were appointed to the tribunal. Two of them were Englishmen.

The third was an Indian barrister Sayad Agha Haider. Proceedings

commenced on May 5, 1990.

Justice Haider’s close questioning of witnesses and his dissociation

on May 12, 1930 from the tribunal’s order of removal of the accused

from the court resulted in his own removal from the tribunal on June

21, 1930. Another judge was also removed, and Sir Abdul Qadir and

Justice Tapp were made members.

The viceroy could not take the risk of a divided verdict. The

reconstituted tribunal delivered the desired death sentence on Oct 7,

1930, just before its own death on Oct 31. Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev

and Rajguru were executed on March 23, 1931.

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The tribunal which acted as an accomplice of the state was set up by

an ordinance which has no precedent in the annals of the law. In a

detailed report, a committee of the Lahore High Court Bar

Association, dated June 19, 1930, exposed its flaws. It was signed by

Gokal Chand Nartang, Manak Chand, Barkat Ali and Sir Mohammed

Iqbal.

The writer is author of The Trial of Bhagat Singh: Politics of Justice,

published by OUP Pakistan.