472.Birendranath Dattagupta (1891-1910)

BIRENDRA NATH DATTA GUPTA

       Safety of persons connected with the prosecution of revolutionary political cases was at discount. It seemed that the dare-devils had the entire situation under their control and could do as they liked. The Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case roused the imagination of fiery youngmen absolutely unconcerned about their own perils and a series of cases from firing resulting in the death of a trusted Government servant or to one helping the Government in such matters occurred in quick succession. The Government with the police spies and informers, loyalists, guards and watchmen equipped with arms proved to be completely inadequate.

       Courageous, intelligent, resourceful young men seemed to be available in plenty as if the political soil of the country had been fertilized by the water of revolution and that the crop of martyrs had been lusty and unending.

       The mighty Government of India had a large number of devoted servants who proved themselves through merit as the strong arm of the administration. For their protection and safety the Government maintained a big retinue of guards and watchmen at a huge cost. But the vendetta of the young members of the revolutionary party tracked their path with certainty of an inexorable fate and they realized their objects irrespective of all consequences to themselves. It was like death bringing two persons of the opposite camps in mortal embrace with one another.

       BIRENDRA NATH DATTA GUPTA, a mere lad of nineteen asked his leader for some serious action and was granted the distinction of taking charge of Shams-ul-Alam, a redoubtable Deputy Superin­tendent of Police, and removing him from the field of mischievous activity. Alam had been connected with the Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Trial from the beginning and was accepted by the Government as the most competent officer in such a complicated political affair. He raveled in political cases in favour of the prosecution and it became, as it were, the breath of his nostril.

       It transpired, and he became conscious of it, that he was being followed by agents of the revolutionary party and there had been at least two previous attempts on his life after the arrest of the Alipore Conspiracy Case accused. A few days after the death of Ashu Biswas on February 10, 1909, he was shadowed by a young man who was arrested by his guards. Unfortunately for Alam, the man was discharged for want of evidence.

About a week before January 24, 1910, he was followed by a Bengali youth while Alam had been going along the maidan. Due to pluck and swiftness in speed the man was able to evade arrest though closely followed by Alam's men.

As was usual with Alam he was busy helping the lawyers of the Crown in a political case in the High Court on January 24, 1910. At about 5-30 p.m., at the end of the hearing for the day, when Alam after arranging the papers and exhibits came out of the Court room and wended his way towards the staircase which went down to the east entrance of these courts. In front of him was the Advocate General and immediately following him was an armed constable of the Bengal Police deputed to be in attendance on him. He was on the point of reaching, the top of the staircase when he came in contact with a young Bengali who had been, as it seemed, hanging about the verandah and watching the move­ments of his victim. He was seen by Alam's orderly to hold a revolver in his hand. The boy stretched his arm, aimed at Alam and fired. When hit, Alam shouted pakro (catch him), and handed over the stick he had in his hand to his orderly and almost at the same moment fell to the ground on his back. The shot had penetrated right into the heart. Alam, the devoted Police Officer, died an instantaneous death.

Biren at once got into the stair case when a cry of murder was raised. He came down the stairs unopposed and ran towards the gate on the east of the building facing Old Post Office Street. As this gate was closed and a section of the crowd had almost come upon him, Biren fired a second shot and the crowd thinned away. By the next gate he came out on the street and began to run towards the north with a revolver in his hand.

He was now chased by a mounted police but this was not as troublesome to him as the concourse of men collected on the street. His speed was, as a consequence, greatly restricted. With great difficulty he reached Hastings Street where he was overtaken by the mounted police. He shot at the police which missed its mark. He was arrested and his revolver was immediately snatched away from his hand. It was a .380 bore Webley revolver with six chambers. He also carried with him a dagger and a knife.

On January 27, 1910, he was placed before the Chief Presidency Magistrate and the next day he was committed to the High Court Sessions.

At the High Court the case started on January 31, 1910. The accused looked pale, calm and completely unconcerned and entered the dock with a sweet smile on his lips. He was charged with murder of Shams-ul-Alam on January 24, 1910. The accused made no reply except that he did not want the help of any Counsel as he was going to plead guilty. Nobody was present in court room for watching the case on his behalf. The accused did not like to say anything. He refused to put any question to anybody, or to produce defense witness or address the Jury.

The Jury without retiring unanimously gave the verdict of 'guilty'. The Judge delivered a sentence of death.

The sentence was received calmly. Biren stepped down the dock into the cell rather cheerfully and wore a beautifully shining smiling face.

While awaiting trial at the High Court the accused expressed desire to eat kachuri, sandesh and rasogolla which were supplied to him.

It was reported that Biren had before his execution made a statement incriminating Jatin Mukherjee and a few others as having asked him to commit the outrage. It came to be known that the police got a page of a newspaper printed afresh containing insinuations against Biren by his leader Jatin Mukherjee with the sole object of extracting a confessional statement of the condemned boy. It was one of the vilest acts in a criminal trial when a young boy of eighteen, face to face with death, was duped to make the case of several other persons implicated in offences of a serious nature rather worse. Before Biren's execution he came to know of this diabolical underhand game on the part of the police and regretted his action and craved forgiveness of Jatin Mukherjee who had absolute faith in Biren as incapable of doing any mean act in normal circumstances.

Biren was executed on February 21, 1910.

The brave lad displayed no special aptitude for any serious political activity, just like the many others of his associates. A Vaidya by birth, he hailed from Bikrampore,Dacca. He was educated at Jalpaiguri at his sister's house and read up to pre­paratory class of the Entrance standard.

Biren came to Calcutta about seven years before the incident which has immortalized his name and put up with one of his elder brothers. He shifted to a mess at Bechu Chatterji Street, about two months before.

On the day of occurrence he turned up at 8-30 or 9 a.m. and stayed in the mess up till 11 a.m. showing no signs of the inner storm that had been lashing the mind.