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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
He created an international incident when he
was recaptured by his British guards on French
soil after an attempt to escape.
As a student in India Savarkar was an
active member of the Abhinav Bharati, a
society in Poona which was engaged in fight-
ing for India’s independence. On the recom-
mendation of Tilak he was in 1906 awarded a
scholarship for study in England. In London
Savarkar gathered around him a number of
Indian students who procured a book on bomb
making and sent cyclostyled copies of it to
India. In 1910 he was proclaimed an offender
for his political activities by the Indian Gov-
ernment which wrote to the British Govern-
ment to extradite him to India to face trial. He
was arrested in England in 1910 for speeches
said to have been made in India in 1906 and for
sending 20 Browning pistols to London while
he was being taken to India by ship. Savarkar
escaped through the porthole of the steamer
when it anchored at Marseilles because of
engine trouble. His British guards saw him
jumping into the water and pursued him.
Savarkar was arrested by a French policeman
after a chase of 500 metres. He was taken to
the vessel accompanied by the two British
guards. Savarkar was placed in chains.
The Government of India appointed a
special tribunal to try Savarkar without a
jury. Savarkar made a statement before the
tribunal that he did not recognise the juris-
diction of the Indian Government to try him
as he was entitled to the right of asylum in
France. His counsel also argued that Sav-
arkar’s arrest on French soil was illegal.
The tribunal overruled these objections.
When asked whether he had anything
to say in his defence Savarkar made this
statement :
“I am quite innocent of the
charges against me. I took part in the pro-
ceedings of the trial in England where
courts are established by democratic rules
sanctioned by the people. In such courts
one can expect to get justice. The condi-
tions of Indian courts of law is quite the
reverse. I am not amenable to the jurisdic-
tion of Indian courts of law. I therefore
decline to give any statement or bring any
evidence for my defence. ”
Savarkar was
sentenced to transportation for life.
The Government instituted a second case
against him, charging him with abetment in
the murder of Jackson, the collector of Nasik.
He was again sentenced to transportation for
life. Savarkar rose and made this statemeni:
“I am prepared to face ungrudgingly the
extreme penalty of your laws in the belief that
it is through suffering and sacrifice alone that
our beloved motherland can march on to an
assured if not a speedy triumph. ”
He was transported to the Andamans and
jailed in 1911. He was brought to India in
1921 and kept in Yervada Jail. In 1923 the In-
dian National Congress passed a resolution
demanding the release of Savarkar. He was
released in January 1923 from the Yervada
Jail on the condition that he would not engage
in any manner of political activity for a period
of five years.
There was strong criticism in the British
and French press on the action of the British in
capturing Savarkar on French soil. The French
Government demanded the return of Savar-
kar. The case was referred to the International
Court of Arbitration at the Hague which gave
its judgement on February 16,1911 in favour
of the British Government while admitting
that an irregularity was committed in the arrest
of Savarkar and in his being handed over to the
British police without the formalities of extra-
dition having being complied with.
The judgment of the Hague Court was
severely criticised since it made a mockery of
the right of asylum as understood in interna-
tional law.
Sri Aurobindo
In August 1907 Aurobindo was arrested
for having published certain articles in Bipin
Chandra Pal’s English weekly “
Bande Ma-
taram”.
The Government believed that he
was the author of the articles though they were
unsigned. The charge failed because it could
not be proved that he was the author of the
articles. TJie magistrate also did not find them
seditious.
In May 1908 Aurobindo was arrested
along with 38 other revolutionaries in what
came to be known as the Maniktola Bomb
Case or the Alipore Case. Mr. Kingsford, the
Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, had
been transferred to Muzaffarpur (Bihar) as
District Judge. Two revolutionaries, Khudiram
Bose and Prafulla Chaki, from Calcutta who
had been told to kill him threw a bomb on what
they thought was his carriage but instead killed
two innocent persons, Ms. Kennedy and her
daughter. The Muzzafarpur outrage was the
first of its kind in India. Khudiram Bose, was
arrested, tried and executed. Chaki shot him-
self with his revolver when arrested. The
police began investigations and a bomb fac-
tory was discovered at Maniktola. A number
of people were arrested including Aurobindo
and his brother Barindra, who was thought to
be the brain behind the whole plot.
Eadley Norton opened the case for the
Crown. It took him six days. C.R. Das
pleaded for Aurobindo for eight days. The
evidence against Aurobindo mostly consisted
of his letters to his wife, speeches and articles.
Das tried to establish that Aurobindo was a
deeply religious and God-inspired Vedantist
whose patriotism and love for his countrymen
was the basis of his politics.
After analysing the entire evidence, C.R.
Das concluded :
“My appeal to you, therefore,
is that a man like this who is being charged
with the offences imputed to him stands not
only before the Bar in this court but stands
before the Bar of the High Court of history and
my appeal to you is this: that long after this
controversy is hushed in silence, long after
this turmoil, this agitation ceases, long after
he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed
and re-echoed not only in India but across
distant seas and lands. Therefore I say that
the man in his position is not only standing
before the Bar of this court but before the Bar
of the High Court of history”.
Barindra Kumar Ghose was sentenced to
death but on appeal the sentence was reduced
to transportation for life. The others were
sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.
Aurobindo was acquitted in May 1909. While
in jail he had mystic experiences and the
vision of Sri Krishna everywhere and in eve-
rything. In February 1910 he received infor-
mation that he would be arrested. Following
his inner voice he left for Chandernagore and
then for Pondicherry where he completely
withdrew from all political activities.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi was tried and convicted
in 1922 for writing four articles in
Young India
entitled
“Disaffection as a Virtue”, “Tamper-
ing with Loyalty”, “A Puzzle and its Solu-
tion”, “Shaking the Manes.”
He was charged
with promoting sedition and proclaiming dis-
affection. The case was the first of its kind
involving the non-violent non-co operation
movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi and
the issue of morality versus law.