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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
On April 8,1929 Bhagat Singh and B.K.
Dutt threw two bombs from the visitors' gallery
on to the floor of the Central Assembly. They
did not attempt to escape though they could
have done so in the ensuing confusion. They
courted arrest after raising revolutionary
slogans and throwing leaflets in the Central
Hall.
The trial of Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt
for throwing the bombs in the Central Assem-
bly began on May 8, 1929. They were de-
fended by Asaf Ali, a young lawyer from
Delhi who on behalf of the accused read out
the following statement after the prosecution
evidence had been completed : “
The bomb
was necessary to awaken England from her
dreams. We dropped the bomb on the floor of
the Assembly chamber to register our protest
on behalf of those who had no other means left
to give expression to their heart-rending ag-
ony. Our sole purpose was to make the deaf
hear and give the heedless a timely warning.
Others have as keenly felt as we have done and
from such seeming stillness of the sea of In-
dian humanity, a veritable storm is about to
break out; we have only hoisted the danger
signal to warn those who are speeding along
without heeding to the grave dangers ahead.
We have only marked the end of an era of
Utopian non-violence of whose futility the
rising generation has been convinced beyond
the shadow of a doubt. ”
Justifying the use of force and disagreeing
with the policy of non-violence, the statement
continued: “
Force used in the furtherance of
a legitimate cause has its moral justification.
The elimination of force at all costs is Utopian
and the new movement which has risen in the
country and of whose dawn we have given a
warning is inspired by the ideals which Guru
Govind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha and
Rem Khan, Washington and Garibaldi, Lafay-
ette and Lenin preached. ”
Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt was sen-
tenced to transportation for life. The Saunders
Murder case or the Lahore conspiracy case as
it came to be known, began on May 5 1930
before a special tribunal with Justice J. Cold-
stream as its President and Mr. Justice Agha
Haider and Mr. Justice G.C. Hilton as its
members. Judgement was pronounced on
October 7 1930. Bhagat Singh and his com-
rades Sukhdev and Raj Guru were sentenced
to death. They were executed on March 23,
1931.
Kanpur Conspiracy Case
Like the Meerut conspiracy the Kanpur
conspiracy case of 1924 involved Communist
and trade union leaders. N.B. Das Gupta,
M.S. Usmani, Muzaffar Ahmed and S.A.
Dange were tried and sentenced to 4 years R.I.
The main accused, M.N. Mahendra Nath Roy,
could not be proceeded against as he was out
of India. M.N! Roy returned to India secretly
in December 1930. He evaded arrest for seven
months. He was arrested at Bombay on July
21,1931.
He was sent to Kanpur to stand trial.
Kanpur had been selected as the venue of the
trial to avoid trial by jury and public demon-
strations. The charge against Roy was that he
was a member of the Third Communist Inter-
national which had established a branch in
British India under the control of M.N.Roy
with the object of depriving
“the King Em-
peror of his Sovereignty of British India. ”
During the trial which was not held in
open court but in the jail where he was held,
M.N. Roy wanted to make a statement in his
defence but was not allowed. It was later
smuggled out and published under the title
“My Defence. ”
He contended that the evi-
dence on record did not prove the charge of
conspiracy as the documents produced indi-
cated differences of opinion among the al-
leged conspirators and no plan to commit any
crime.
He said:
“The only law for the oppressed
and exploited people of India is the law
of revolt, the majestic law of
revolutionary struggle for freedom. The
imperialist rulers of India violate it every
day; this is the only law that the people
of India can observe under the present
condition.
My arrest and trial represent an
instance of such violation of our law. To
accuse me of any offence is to add insult
to injury. I stand here not to answer any
such absurd charge and insolent
accusation. I stand here to indict the
British Government of India at the Bar
of the civilised world for war and
aggression against one-fifth of the
human race, for robbing our land, for
obstructing our progress in every
sense. ”
The trial concluded on January 6 1932.
Roy was sentenced to 12 years transportation
which was reduced to 6 years R.I. on appeal.
Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah
The trial of Sheikh Abdullah, the
“Lion of
Kashmir”,
in July 1946 at Srinagar is as im-
portant as that of the freedom fighters in
British India. Abdullah fought against the
autocratic rule of a Maharajah. Like Mahatma
Gandhi, Abdullah too gave a
“Quit Kashmir”
call.
The people of Kashmir soon rose against
the misrule of the Maharajah Hari Singh.
Sheikh Abdullah was arrested and put on trial
for sedition by the Government of Kashmir in
the court of Lala Barkat Rai, Sessions Judge,
Srinagar in July 1946.
While concluding his submission before
the Sessions Court, Abdullah said:
“It is a small matter whether I am
imprisoned and tried and convicted.
But it is no small matter that the
people of Jammu and Kashmi r suffer
poverty, humiliation and degrada-
tion. It has been no small matter what
they have endured during the violent
repression and horror of the past two
months and more, and what they are
enduring now. These very events
have demonstrated the justice of our
demand and of our cry of “Quit
Kashmir.
For a system of government that
subsists only by pursuing such meth-
ods stands condemned. If my impris-
onment and that of my colleagues
serves the cause to which we have
dedicated ourselves then it will be
well with us and we shall take pride in
thus serving our people and the land
of our forefathers.... ”
Abdullah was sentenced to three years
simple imprisonment on September 10, 1946.
He was set free on September 29,1947 by the
Maharaja after India became independent.