Sovarani Dutta was born in Kolkata. But her home town was Khulna. Her mother was the famous Labanya Prova Dutta, a worshipper of her mother land and the President of Bangiya Pradeshik Committee from 1940-45.She took her education from "Prem Mahavidyalay" of Brindaban, founded by revolutionary Bir Raja Mahendra Pratap and she got inspiration of revolution after being acquainted with Punjab Keshari Lala Lajpath Ray. She and her mother founded an organisation namely " Anandamath" in 1930 being inspired in service of Mother land and its human being. They joined in Civil Disobedience movement as worker of Nari Satyagraha Samity. She gave shelter to the revolutionaries ( escaped after the incident of Chittagong Armoury Raid ) and helped them in various ways including financial. She also gave shelter to Monaranjan Roy in her house at Puntiary, an escaped convict of Dalhousie Square Case. She gave shelter to Ujjala Roy after the attack of the revolutionary on the Gover at the ground of Labong in Darjeeling. But both of them wetre arrested on 18th May.Though she was released in the Case of Labong , she was kept confined asa State prisoner. But she turned into madness being confined in jail and was sent to Mental Hospital of Ranchi. She was again brought to Presidency jail being cured from her disease. She was kept confined in Almorah and was released in 1937.
Shyam Kumar Nandy was amember of Revolutionary organisation of Master Da. The revolutionaries were hiding themselves in a place named Jalkhnai near Patiary, police encircled them. He became dead while escaping from the lace.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
736. Sailesh Chandra Chattopadhyay (1914-1933), 737.Saileshwar Chakrabarty, 738. Saileshwar Basu (1886-1928)
Sailesh Chandra Chattopadhyay was born in Dhaka.He became member of Revolutionary Party in his boyhood. He was jailed while he was a student of I.Sc. and of 17 years old. At first he was in Hijli Jail and then sent to Deuli Prisoners Camp in Rajasthan.He died here due wrong medical treatement after being ill here.
Saileshwar Chakrabarty was born in Chittagong. He participated in Chittagong Armoury Raid and fight in Jallalabad hill. He escaped being arrested and went on his revolutionary work. To obey the order bestowed on him, he went to attack the European Club at Pahar Tali and being unsuccessful he committed suicide.
Saileshwar Basu was born in 24-Parganas. He organised felicitation of Rashtraguru Surendranath Banerjee along with Manabendranath Roy and was driven out from Harinava School along with him. Later he devoted himself in revolutionary work as an assistant of Bagha Jatin in Anushilan Samity. He was arrested for trying to import arms from Germany and being convicted in Baleshwar Case. His health broke down for going fast in jail. He was released , joined in Non-cooperation movement and was arrested. He became secretary of 24-Parganas District Congress Committee.
Saileshwar Chakrabarty was born in Chittagong. He participated in Chittagong Armoury Raid and fight in Jallalabad hill. He escaped being arrested and went on his revolutionary work. To obey the order bestowed on him, he went to attack the European Club at Pahar Tali and being unsuccessful he committed suicide.
Saileshwar Basu was born in 24-Parganas. He organised felicitation of Rashtraguru Surendranath Banerjee along with Manabendranath Roy and was driven out from Harinava School along with him. Later he devoted himself in revolutionary work as an assistant of Bagha Jatin in Anushilan Samity. He was arrested for trying to import arms from Germany and being convicted in Baleshwar Case. His health broke down for going fast in jail. He was released , joined in Non-cooperation movement and was arrested. He became secretary of 24-Parganas District Congress Committee.
Monday, September 22, 2014
733. Ser-i Bangla, A.K.Fazlul Haq, 734. Sailendranath Ghosh , 735. Sailendranath Dasgupta, Runu (1900-1980)
Ser-i Bangla - see Abul Kasem Fazlul Haq.
Sailendranath Ghosh was born in Krishnanagar, Nadia. engal in 1917 to take the leadership of Berlin Committee. He formed an Administrative Committee for Independence of India with the help of Taraknath Das and appealed for recognition to different countries. He went to Mexico before American Govt. filed a legal action against these Govts. He got a shelter from Manabendranath Roy who later asked him to leave. He then reached America by swimming a vast river. He was arrested and jailed for 4 years. He became Deputy Secretary of India High Commissioner's office in Britain. Later he died there.
Sailendranath Dasgupta was born in Barisal. He came in contact with the revolutionaries in hi student life. He was arrested before he sat for I.Sc. exam. in 1918.He was again jailed for participating in non-cooperation movement in 1921. He was the founder secretary of Tarun Sangha of Barisal. But he was driven away from Barisal in 1924. He was jailed for 1925-28 and and 1930-38 in different jails.
Sailendranath Ghosh was born in Krishnanagar, Nadia. engal in 1917 to take the leadership of Berlin Committee. He formed an Administrative Committee for Independence of India with the help of Taraknath Das and appealed for recognition to different countries. He went to Mexico before American Govt. filed a legal action against these Govts. He got a shelter from Manabendranath Roy who later asked him to leave. He then reached America by swimming a vast river. He was arrested and jailed for 4 years. He became Deputy Secretary of India High Commissioner's office in Britain. Later he died there.
Sailendranath Dasgupta was born in Barisal. He came in contact with the revolutionaries in hi student life. He was arrested before he sat for I.Sc. exam. in 1918.He was again jailed for participating in non-cooperation movement in 1921. He was the founder secretary of Tarun Sangha of Barisal. But he was driven away from Barisal in 1924. He was jailed for 1925-28 and and 1930-38 in different jails.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
730. Sheikh Alauddin (1912-1942), 731. Sheikh Daulat, 732. Sebur Ahmed
Sheikh Alauddin was born in Midnapore. He joined quit India Movement and took the leadership of capturing Nandipur Thana. He died in front of Thana by police firing.
Sheikh Daulat was known as "Raja" for being leader of Chakma.He was the leader of Chakma Rebellion in 1776.
Sebur Ahmed was born in Hooghly. He as jailed for joining Salt satyagraha and Quit India movement. He died in Jail.
Sheikh Daulat was known as "Raja" for being leader of Chakma.He was the leader of Chakma Rebellion in 1776.
Sebur Ahmed was born in Hooghly. He as jailed for joining Salt satyagraha and Quit India movement. He died in Jail.
729. Sheikh Abdullah (1905-1982)
Early life
The most important source of Sheikh Abdullah's early life is his official biography Atish e Chinar. He was born in Soura, a village on the outskirts of Srinagar, eleven days after the death of his father Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim, a middle class manufacturer and trader of Kashmir shawls. Sheikh Ibrahim was the descendant of a HinduKashmiri Pandit named Ragho Ram Koul who was converted to Islam in 1890 by the saint Rashid Balkhi and after conversion changed his name to Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah. Thus Sheikh Abdullah was the namesake of the progenitor of his family branch.
According to Sheikh Abdullah, his step brother mistreated his mother and his early childhood was marked by utter poverty. His mother was keen that her children should receive proper education and so as a child he was first admitted to a traditional school or Maktab where he learnt the recitation of the Koran and some basic Persian texts like Gulistan of Sa'di, Bostan, Padshanama, etc. Then in 1911 he was admitted to a primary school where he studied for about two years. His elder step brothers then stopped his further education and he was first set to work in the family workshop embroidering shawls and later asked to sit on a grocers shop as a sales boy.
However, their family barber Mohammed Ramzan prevailed upon his uncle to send him back to school. He had to walk the distance of ten miles to school and back on foot but in his own words the joy of being allowed to obtain a school education made it seem a light work. He passed his Matriculation examination from Punjab University in 1922.
Higher studies
After matriculation he obtained admission in Shri Partap College, the leading college of Kashmir. He also went to the Prince of Wales College in Jammu. Then he took admission in Islamia College, Lahore and graduated from there. In 1930, he obtained an M.Sc. in Chemistry from Aligarh Muslim University.During his college days he was an eye witness of the protests of the workers of the Government Silk Factory during the Silk Factory Workers Agitation and the sight of workers agitating for their rights made a deep impression on him and was an important factor in
motivating
him to struggle for the rights of the people of the Jammu and Kashmir State.Political career
As a student at Aligarh Muslim University,[2] he came in contact with and was influenced by persons with liberal and progressiveideas. He became convinced that the feudal system was responsible for the miseries of the Kashmiris and like all progressive nations of the world Kashmir too should have a democratically elected government.
Muslim Conference formed
Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues were greatly influenced by the lectures of a Kashmiri polymath and lawyer Molvi Abdullah.
Molvi Abdullah's son Molvi Abdul Rahim, Sheikh Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Gilkar were the first three educated Kashmiri youth to be arrested during the public agitation of 1931
Kashmir's first political party the Kashmir Muslim Conference with Sheikh Abdullah as President, Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas as general secretary, and Molvi Abdul Rahim as Secretary was formed on 16 October 1932. In his presidential address Sheikh Abdullah categorically stated that the Muslim Conference had come into existence to struggle for the rights of all oppressed sections of the society and not Muslims alone. It was not a communal party and would struggle for the rights of the oppressed, whether Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, with the same fervor. He reasserted that the struggle of Kashmiris was not a communal struggle.
In March 1933 the Muslim Conference constituted a committee which included Molvi Abdullah and nine other members for the purpose of establishing contacts with non-Muslim parties and exploring the possibility of forming a joint organisation. Those nine members were Khwaja Saad-ud-din Shawl, Khwaja Hassan Shah Naqshbandi, Mirwaiz Kashmir, Molvi Ahmad-Ullah, Mirwaiz Hamadani, Agha Syed Hussain Shah Jalali, Mufti Sharif-ud-din, Molvi Atiq-Ullah and Haji Jafar Khan. According to Sheikh Abdullah this effort was not successful because of the unfavourable reception of the idea by the non-Muslim parties. Sheikh Abdullah campaigned to change the name of the Muslim Conference to
National
Conference, under the influence of among others Jawaharlal Nehru. After a prolonged and vigorous campaign a special session of the Muslim Conference held in June 1939 voted to change the name of the party to National Conference. Of the 176 members attending the session, 172 members voted in favour of the resolution. According to Sheikh Abdullah the support of Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas of Jammu was very important in motivating the members to vote for this change.Formation of Praja Sabha (Legislative Assembly)
As a result of the 1931 agitation the Maharajah appointed a Grievances Commission with an Englishman B.J. Glancy as President which submitted its report in March 1932.[13] Subsequently a Constitutional Reforms Conference also presided over by B.J. Glancy recommended the setting up of an elected Legislative Assembly (Praja Sabha). Consequently a Praja Sabha with 33 elected and 42 nominated members elected on the basis of separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims was established in 1934. Women and illiterate men without sufficient property, or title, or annual income of less than Rupees four hundred did not have the right to vote. Roughly less than 10% (according to Justice Anand only 3%) of the population were enfranchised.
Even after the formation of Praja Sabha in 1934 as recommended by the Commission real power continued to remain in the hands of the Maharajah.
Seventeen years later in 1951, the government of Kashmir with Sheikh Abdullah as Prime Minister held elections to a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Sheikh Abdullah's Government had been accused of rigging in these elections to the Constituent Assembly. Nonetheless, due consideration should be given to the quantum leap in moving from elections with 10% of enfranchised population to universal adult suffrage and that too just after a ceasefire from an active war.
Meeting with Nehru
Sheikh Abdullah was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937 and as he too as a leader of the Indian National Congress was demanding similar rights for people of British India and had formed The All India States Peoples Conference for supporting the people ofPrincely States in their struggle for a representative government the two became friends and political allies.
Muslim Conference renamed as National Conference
He introduced a resolution in the working committee of the Muslim Conference for changing its name to National Conference on 24 June 1938 to allow people from all communities to join the struggle against the autocratic rule of the Maharaja. Meanwhile he along with his liberal progressive friends, many of whom were not Muslim like Kashyap Bandhu, Jia Lal Kilam, Pandit Sudama Sidha, Prem Nath Bazaz and Sardar Budh Singh drafted the National Demands the forerunner of the famous Naya Kashmir(New Kashmir) Manifesto (which was a charter of demands for granting a democratic constitution committed to the welfare of the common people of Kashmir)
He presented these demands to the Maharajah in a speech on 28 August 1938.[23] The Maharajah was not willing to accept these demands and so he along with many of his companions was arrested for defying prohibitory orders and sentenced to six months imprisonment and a fine. His arrest provoked a public agitation in which volunteers called Dictators (so called because they had the authority to defy laws that was forbidden for normal law abiding party members) courted arrest. This agitation was called off on the appeal of Mohandas K. Gandhi. He was released after serving his sentence on 24 February 1939 and accorded a grand reception by the people of Srinagar on his return. Speeches were made at the reception stressing the importance of unity among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Subsequently the resolution for changing the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference was ratified with an overwhelming majority by the General Council of the Muslim Conference on 11 June 1939 and from that date Muslim Conference became National Conference.
Quit Kashmir agitation
In May 1946 Sheikh Abdullah launched the Quit Kashmir agitation against the Maharajah Hari Singh and was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment but was released only sixteen months later on 29 September 1947
(See Tehreek e Hurriyat e Kashmir By Rashid Taseer (Urdu) volume 2-page 29 for "National Demands" discussion and see Chapter 12-page 310-313 regarding presentation of "Naya Kashmir" Manifesto to Maharaja Hari Singh. Full text of "Naya Kashmir" manifesto is given from page 314 to 383. English translation of this text is available at Wikisource. Also see relevant chapters from Atish e Chinar regarding 1931 agitation (Chapters 9, 10 and 11) Glancy Commission (Chapter 15) formation of Muslim Conference (Chapter 18) meeting with Nehru (Chapter 23), reasons for change in name of Muslim Conference to National Conference (Chapter 24) and becoming president of All India States Peoples Conference (Chapter 31). His arrest and subsequent release following the Quit Kashmir agitation is discussed in Chapter 34-page 372-389.)
Head of emergency administration
Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to Lord Mountbatten of Burma the Governor-General of India for Indian military aid. In his Accession Offer dated 26 October 1947 which accompanied The Instrument of Accession duly signed by him on 26 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh wrote "I may also inform your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Shaikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister."
Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession after a meeting of the Defence Committee on 26 October 1947. In accepting the accession unconditionally he wrote, "I do hereby accept this Instrument of Accession. Dated this twenty seventh day of October, nineteen hundred and forty seven". In the covering letter to Hari Singh. he wrote "In consistence with their policy that in the case of any State where the issue of accession has been the subject of dispute, the question of accession should be decided in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State, it is my Government's wish that, as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and its soil cleared of the invader, the question of the State's accession should be settled by a reference to the people". Also in his letter to the Maharaja Lord Mountbatten wrote "My Government and I note with satisfaction that your Highness has decided to invite Sheikh Abdullah to form an Interim Government to work with your Prime Minister." The support of Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a key factor in getting Sheikh Abdullah appointed as Head of the emergency administration by the Maharaja.
As a consequence, Sheikh Abdullah was appointed head of an emergency administration by an order issued by the Maharaja which was undated except for the mention October 1947 in place of the date. He took charge as Head of the Emergency Administration on 30 October 1947.
He raised a force of local Kashmiri volunteers to patrol Srinagar and take control of administration after the flight of the Maharaja along with his family and Prime Minister Meher Chand Mahajan to Jammu even before the Indian troops had landed. This group of volunteers would serve as the nucleus for the subsequent formation of Jammu and Kashmir Militia This, Sheikh Abdullah hoped, would take over the defence of Kashmir after the Indian army was withdrawn. This was articulated in his letter to Sardar Patel dated 7 October 1948 in which he wrote, "With the taking over of the State forces by the Indian Government, it was agreed that steps would be taken to reorganise and rebuild our army so that when the present emergency is over and the Indian forces are withdrawn the State will be left with a proper organised army of its own to fall back upon." (Sheikh Abdullah has alleged that most of the Muslim soldiers of the Militia were either discharged or imprisoned before his arrest in 1953. The Militia (dubbed as Dagan Brigade) was converted from a State Militia to a regular unit of the Indian Army on 2 December 1972 and redesignated the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry)
Prime minister
Sheikh Abdullah took oath as Prime Minister of Kashmir on 17 March 1948.
Pakistani view
The government of Pakistan in 1947 viewed Abdullah and his party as agents of Nehru and did not recognise his leadership of Kashmir. However there was a change in Pakistan's viewpoint with the passage of time. When he visited Pakistan in 1964 he was awarded a tumultuous welcome by the people of Pakistan. Among the persons who received him was Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas his once colleague and later bitter political enemy who earlier in his book Kashmakash had denounced Sheikh Abdullah as a turncoat and traitor. Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas embraced him and in his speech described him as one of the greatest leaders of the subcontinent and a great benefactor of the Muslims of the subcontinent. President Ayub Khan and his then Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto discussed the Kashmir problem with him. The government of Pakistan treated him as a state guest. Sheikh Abdullah had the rare distinction of having poems in his praise written by three major Pakistani Urdu poets namely Hafeez Jullundhri, Josh and Faiz Ahmed Faiz who admired his lifelong struggle against injustice and for democratic rights of the common man.
Arrest and release
On 8 August 1953 he was dismissed as Prime Minister by the then Sadr-i-Riyasat (Constitutional Head of State) Dr. Karan Singh, son of the erstwhile Maharajah Hari Singh, on the charge that he had lost the confidence of his cabinet (not the house) He was denied the opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the house. and his dissident cabinet minister Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was appointed as Prime Minister. Sheikh Abdullah was immediately arrested and later jailed for eleven years, accused of conspiracy against the State in the infamous "Kashmir Conspiracy Case".
According to Sheikh Abdullah his dismissal and arrest were engineered by the central government headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He has quoted B.N. Mullicks' statements in his book "My Years with Nehru" in support of his statement. A.G. Noorani writing in Frontline supports this view, as according to him Nehru himself ordered the arrest. On 8 April 1964 the State Government dropped all charges in the so-called "Kashmir Conspiracy Case". Sheikh Abdullah was released and returned to Srinagar where he was accorded an unprecedented welcome by the people of the valley".
After his release he was reconciled with Nehru. Nehru requested Sheikh Abdullah to act as a bridge between India and Pakistan and make President Ayub to agree to come to New Delhi for talks for a final solution of the Kashmir problem. President Ayub Khan also sent telegrams to Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah with the message that as Pakistan too was a party to the Kashmir dispute any resolution of the conflict without its participation would not be acceptable to Pakistan. This paved the way for Sheikh Abdullah's visit to Pakistan to help broker a solution to the Kashmir problem.
Sheikh Abdullah went to Pakistan in spring of 1964. President Ayub Khan of Pakistan held extensive talks with him to explore various avenues for solving the Kashmir problem and agreed to come to Delhi in mid June for talks with Nehru as suggested by him. Even the date of his proposed visit was fixed and communicated to New Delhi. On 27 May while he was en route to Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Administered Kashmir news came of the sudden death of Nehru and the Sheikh after addressing a public rally at Muzaffarabad returned to Delhi. On his suggestion President Ayub Khan sent a high level Pakistani delegation led by his Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto along with him to take part in the last rites of Jawaharlal Nehru.
After Nehru's death in 1964, he was interned from 1965 to 1968 and exiled from Kashmir in 1971 for 18 months. The Plebiscite Front was also banned. This was allegedly done to prevent him and the Plebiscite Front which was supported by him from taking part in elections in Kashmir.
After Indo-Pakistan war and creation of Bangladesh
In 1971 an insurrection broke out in erstwhile East Pakistan, and subsequently war broke out between India and Pakistan which ended in the creation of Bangladesh. Sheikh Abdullah watching the alarming turn of events in the subcontinent realised that for the survival of this region there was an urgent need to stop pursuing confrontational politics and promoting solution of issues by a process of reconciliation and dialogue rather than confrontation.
If this was not done there was imminent danger of the break-up and balkanisation of both India and Pakistan with disastrous consequences for the people of this region. Realizing this he started talks with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for normalising the situation in the region and came to an accord called 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord with Indira Gandhi, then India's Prime Minister, by giving up the demand for a plebiscite in lieu of the people being given the right to self-rule by a democratically elected Government (as envisaged under article 370 of the Constitution of India) rather than the puppet government which till then ruled the State.
Chief minister
He assumed the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Government and the ruling Congress Party withdrew its support so that the State Assembly had to be dissolved and mid term elections called.The National Conference won an overwhelming majority in the subsequent elections and re-elected Sheikh Abdullah as Chief Minister. He remained as Chief Minister till his death in 1982.
Abdullah, described as a six feet four inches (1.93m) to six feet six inches (1.98m) tall man, was fluent in bothKashmiri and Urdu. His biography in Urdu entitled Atish-e-Chinar was written by the noted Kashmiri author M.Y. Taing and published after Sheikh Abdullah's death. It is often referred to as his autobiography as Taing claimed that he only acted as an amanuensis. It is based on extensive interviews that Taing had with Sheikh Abdullah and provides valuable information on Sheikh Abdullah's family background, early life, ringside glimpses of happenings in Kashmir at a crucial juncture in its history, and his viewpoint about the political events in Kashmir in which he himself played a central role.
After his death his eldest son Dr. Farooq Abdullah was elected as the Chief Minister of the State.
Controversy
In 1933 he married Akbar Jahan, the daughter of Michael Harry Nedou, the eldest son of the European proprietor of a chain of hotels in India including Nedous Hotel in Srinagar, and his Kashmiri wife Mirjan. Michael Harry Nedou was himself the proprietor of a hotel at the tourist resort of Gulmarg (The writer Tariq Ali claims that Akbar Jehan was previously married in 1928 to an Arab Karam Shah who disappeared after a Calcutta newspaper Liberty reported that he was actually T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) a British Intelligence officer. He claims that Akbar Jehan was divorced by her first husband in 1929.).
Saturday, September 20, 2014
727. Silbhadra Jaji (1916-1996), 728.Sukdev Thapar (1907-1931)
Silbhadra Jaji was born in Baktiyarpur, Patna. He was freedom fighter. He was jailed in 1930 for participating in Salt Satyagraha. He joined in congress socialist Party in 1935 along with Jayprakas Narayan.
He took active part in peasants movement with Swami Sahajananda. He was elected in Bihar Assembly in 1937. He was the founder secretary of Forward Bloc formed by Subhas Chandra Basu. Later he became President. He launched a massive movement for the release of the soldiers of Ajad Hind Fauz. He was arrested in 1943 and was released after the end of WWII. After Independence he joined in the movement of Peace of all Socialist Parties. He was a member of upper house of Lok Sabha. He was a follower of Marxism. He was President through out his life of the organisation of freedom fighters.
Sukhdev Thapar (15 May 1907 - 23 March 1931) was an Indian activist and revolutionary.
He took active part in peasants movement with Swami Sahajananda. He was elected in Bihar Assembly in 1937. He was the founder secretary of Forward Bloc formed by Subhas Chandra Basu. Later he became President. He launched a massive movement for the release of the soldiers of Ajad Hind Fauz. He was arrested in 1943 and was released after the end of WWII. After Independence he joined in the movement of Peace of all Socialist Parties. He was a member of upper house of Lok Sabha. He was a follower of Marxism. He was President through out his life of the organisation of freedom fighters.
Sukhdev Thapar (15 May 1907 - 23 March 1931) was an Indian activist and revolutionary.Revolutionary activities
Sukhdev was a famous Indian revolutionary who played a major role in the India's struggle for Independence. Sukhdev Thapar was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), and organised revolutionary cells in Punjab and other areas of North India. A devoted leader, he even went on to educate the youth at the
National
College in Lahore. He along with other renowned revolutionaries started the 'Naujawan Bharat Sabha' at Lahore that was an organisation involved in various activities, mainly gearing the youth for the struggle for independence and putting an end to British Imperialism and communalism.
Sukhdev himself took active part in several revolutionary activities like a prison hunger strike in 1929; however, he would always be remembered in the chronicles of the Indian Freedom Movement for his attacks in the Lahore Conspiracy Case (18 December 1928). Sukhdev was the accomplice of Bhagat Singh, and Shivaram Rajguru who were involved in the assassination of Deputy Superintendent of Police, J.P. Saunders in 1928 in response to the death of veteran leader, Lala Lajpat Rai owing to excessive police beating in the Conspiracy case. After the Central Assembly Hall bombings in New Delhi (8 April 1929), Sukhdev and his accomplices were arrested and convicted of their crime, facing the death sentence as verdict.
Special Tribunal
To speed up the slow trial, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, declared an emergency on 1 May 1930, and promulgated an ordinance setting up a special tribunal composed of three high court judges for this case. The ordinance cut short the normal process of justice as the only appeal after the tribunal was at the Privy Council located in England The Tribunal was authorised to function without the presence of any of the accused in court, and to accept death of the persons giving evidence as a concession to the defence. Consequent to Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance No.3 of 1930, the trial was transferred from Rai Sahib Pandit Sri Kishan's court to the tribunal composed of Justice J. Coldstream (president), Justice G. C. Hilton and Justice Agha Hyder (members).
The case commenced on 5 May 1930 in Poonch House, Lahore against 18 accused. On 20 June 1930, the constitution of the Special Tribunal was changed to Justice G.C. Hilton (president), Justice J.K. Tapp and Justice Sir Abdul Qadir. On 2 July 1930, a habeas corpus petition was filed in the High Court challenging the ordinance and said that it was ultra vires and therefore illegal, stating that the Viceroy had no powers to shorten the customary process of determining justice. The petition argued that the Act, allowed the Viceroy to introduce an ordinance and set up such a tribunal only under conditions of break down of law-and-order, whereas there had been no such breakdown. However, the petition was dismissed as 'premature'. Carden-Noad presented the government's grievous charges of conducting dacoities, bank-robbery, and illegal acquisition of arms and ammunition amongst others. The evidence of G.T.H. Hamilton Harding, the Lahore superintendent of police, shocked the court, when he stated that he had filed the First Information Report against the accused under specific orders from the chief secretary (D.J. Boyd) to the governor of Punjab (Sir Geoffrey Montmorency) and that he was unaware of the details of the case. The prosecution mainly depended upon the evidence of P.N. Ghosh, Hans Raj Vohra and Jai Gopal who had been Singh's associates in the HRSA. On 10 July 1930, the tribunal decided to press charges against only 15 of the 18 accused, and allowed their petitions to be taken up for hearing the next day. The tribunal conducted the trial from 5 May 1930 to 10 September 1930. The three accused against whom the case was withdrawn included Dutt, who had already been awarded a life sentence in the Assembly bomb case.
The ordinance (and the tribunal) would lapse on 31 October 1930 as it had not been passed in the Central Assembly or the British Parliament. On 7 October 1930, the tribunal delivered its 300-page judgement based on all the evidence and concluded that participation of Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was proved beyond reasonable doubt in Saunders' murder, and sentenced them to death by hanging. The remaining 12 accused were all sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment. The warrants for the three had a black border.
Appeal to the Privy Council
In Punjab, a defence committee drew up a plan to appeal to the Privy Council. Singh was initially against the appeal, but later agreed to it in the hope that the appeal would popularise the HSRA in Great Britain. The appellants objected to the ordinance that created the tribunal as invalid. The government again plead that the Viceroy was completely empowered to create such a tribunal under the said Act (Section 72 ). The appeal was dismissed by Judge Viscount Dunedin.
Reactions to the judgement
After the rejection of the appeal to the Privy Council, Congress party president Madan Mohan Malviya filed a mercy appeal before Lord Irwin on 14 February 1931.[7]An appeal was sent to Mahatma Gandhi by prisoners to intervene. In his notes dated 19 March 1931, the Viceroy recorded:
The Communist Party of Great Britain expressed its reaction to the case:
An abortive plan had been made to rescue Singh and fellow inmates of HSRA from the jail. HSRA member Bhagwati Charan Vohra made bombs for the purpose, but died making them when they exploded accidentally.
Execution
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. On 17 March 1931, the Home Secretary, Punjab, sent a telegram to the Home Department, New Delhi, fixing the execution on 23 March 1931. Singh was informed that his execution had been advanced by 11 hours on 23 March 1931, just a few hours before his execution. Singh was hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. It is reported that no magistrate of the time was willing to supervise his hanging. The execution was supervised by the Honorary Magistrate of Kasur, Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri, who also signed Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev's death warrants as their original warrants had expired. The jail authorities then broke the rear wall of the jail and secretly cremated the three men under cover of darkness outside Ganda Singh Walavillage, and then threw the ashes into the Sutlej river, about 10 km from Ferozepore (and about 60 km from Lahore).
Criticism of the Special Tribunal and method of execution
Singh's trial is generally considered to be an important event in the Indian history, as it went contrary to the fundamental doctrine of criminal jurisprudence. An ex-parte trial was against the principles of natural justice that no man shall be held guilty unless given an opportunity to defend in a hearing. The Special Tribunal was a departure from the normal procedure adopted for a trial. The decision of the tribunal could only be appealed to the Privy Council located in Britain. The accused were absent from the court and the judgement was passed ex-parte. The ordinance, which was introduced by the Viceroy to form the Special Tribunal, was never approved by the Central Assembly or the British Parliament, and it eventually lapsed without any legal or constitutional sanctity.
It was probably for the first time, that executions were carried out in the evening, by advancing the date of execution. The families of the accused were not allowed to meet them before the execution nor were they informed about it, even the bodies of the three were not given to their relatives after the execution to perform last rites, but were removed by demolishing the rear wall of the jail since there was an angry crowd at the front gate and were disposed off by cutting them into pieces and burning with the help of kerosene after which the remains were thrown into Satluj river.
Reactions to the executions
The execution of Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were reported widely by the press, especially as they were on the eve of the annual convention of the Congress party at Karachi. Gandhi faced black flag demonstrations by angry youth who shouted "Down with Gandhi". The New York Times reported:
Hartals and strikes of mourning were called. The Congress party, during the Karachi session, declared:
In the 29 March 1931 issue of Young India, Gandhi wrote:
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