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FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Eternal India
encyclopedia
INA
TRIAL
S
SUBHAS BOSE AND THE INA MIRACLE
* We Found a Leader and We Followed Him ’
Statements by Accused in Red Fort Trial
National Herald, 8, Dec, 1945.
About twenty-five thousand Indian sol-
diers—prisoners of war—in the hands of the
Japanese who had joined the INA were
rounded up after the collapse of the Japanese
army in Burma. The military authorities, on
the basis of evidence in their possession,
brought charges against some of the officers
not only of waging war against the king, but
also of committing gross brutality on the
members of the INA accused of desertion.
Accordingly a Military Tribunal was consti-
tuted by an ordinance.
The Indian public did not, so long, know
anything of the INA, but now came to regard
them as a band of patriotic heroes fighting for
the liberation of their motherland, and a wave
of sympathy for them swept the whole of
India. There was an INA Defence Fund, also
INA flag days.
The fame of Subhas Bose's INA and the
fact that the Congress had taken up the cause
of the accused excited great interest in the trial
throughout India. The official evidence given
in the course of the trial, brought home to the
Indians, for the first time, the magnitude of the
INA organisation set up by Subhas Bose and
the heroic feats performed by INA men.
Popular enthusiasm now rose to the highest
pitch when the Muslim League associated it-
self with the defence of the accused. The
agitation became all-India in character.
Thus two significant trials at the Red Fort
(Delhi) changed the course of political history
in India. The trial of Bahadur Shah (1858) -
the last of the Mughals, gave a death blow to
the Mughal rule and established the British
supremacy in India and the INA trial (1945),
marked the end of British rule.
"No trial in
India... by courtmartial or in the civil courts
has attracted so much public attention or has
dealt with issues of such fundamental national
importance
......
the Indian National Army
became a symbol of India fighting for her
independence
..........
the trial dramatised and
gave visible form to the old contest: England
Vs. India.... It became rather a trial of strength
between the will of the Indian people and the
will of those who held power in India. And it
was that will of the Indian people that
triumphed in the end. ”
(Jawaharlal Nehru)
Capt. Shah Nawaz (1/14 Punjab Regi-
ment), Capt. Prem Kumar Sehgal (2/10 Baluch
Regiment) and Lt. Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon
(1/14 Punjab Regiment) were arrested on the
charge of the formation of the provisional
government of Free India under Subhas Chan-
dra Bose at Singapore (1943-45). They were
charged with
'waging war against His Maj-
esty the King Emperor of India'.
The first charge ..............
“Delhi, Indian
commissioned officers, charged with murder
in Malaya, at Rangoon, in the vicinity of Popa,
in the vicinity of Kyaukpadaung, and else-
where in Burma, between the month of Sep-
tember, 1942 and the 26th day of April, 1945
did wage war against His Majesty the King
Emperor of India.
”
The second charge relates to the murder
of Hari Singh at Popa Hill, Burma by Lt. Gur-
baksh Singh Dhillon.
Charge :
“Indian Army Act, Section 41
(against the said Lt. Gurbaksh Singh Dhillion
alone). Committing an offence, that is to say,
murder, contrary to Section 302, Indian Penal
Code, in that he (Lt. Dhillon) at or near Popa
Hill in Burma, on or about 6th March, 1945 by
causing death of Hari Singh did commit mur-
der. ”
The third charge under section 41 of the
Indian Army Act, relates to Capt. Sehgal. The
charge reads:
“ I.A.A. Section41 (againstthe
said Captain P.K. Sehgal alone (Chief De-
fence Lawyer). Committing a civil offence,
that is to say, abetment, contrary to Section
109,1.P.C In that he (Captain Sehgal) at or
near Popa Hill on or about 6th March, 1945,
did abet the offence of the murder of Hari
Singh which offence was committed in conse-
quence of such abetment. ”
The fourth charge was “
I.A.A. Section
41 (against the said Lt. Gurbaksh Singh Dhil-
lon alone). Committing a civil offence, that is
to say murder, contrary to Section 302,1.P.C.
in that he (Lt. Dhillon) at or near Popa Hill in
Burma, on or about 16th March, 1945, by
causing the death of Duli Chand, did commit
murder. ”
The sixth charge made against him relates -
to the murder of Daryao Singh at Burma, also
the eighth charge levelled against him sued
him for the murder of Dharam Singh at Burma
on or 6th March 1945; the charge also accused
Capt. P. K. Sehgal of the murder.
The charge was
“I.A.A. Section 41 (against
the said Lt. Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon alone).
Committing a civil offence, that is to say,
murder contrary to Section 302,1.P.C. in that
he (Lt. Dhillon) at or near Popa Hill in Burma,
on Qr about 6th March, 1945, by causing the
death of Daryao Singh, did commit murder. ”