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The Trial of Bhagat Singh Politics of Justice The Trial of Bhagat Singh Politics of Justice A. G. Noorani OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © A.G. Noorani, 1996 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published by Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd., A-149, Main Vikas Marg, Delhi 110092, India, 1996 Reprinted by permission This issue by Oxford University Press, 2001 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to Oxford University Press at the address below. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. ISBN 0 19 579667 5 Printed in Pakistan by Mehran Printers, Karachi. Published by Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press 5-Bangalore Town, Sharae Faisal PO Box 13033, Karachi-75350, Pakistan. To Ammajan who is no more Preface B history India's freedom which little is known. HistoHAGAT of Singh's trial is of one of those episodes in the rians and his conte mporaries' writings have thrown much light on certain facets of his personality and his outlook which his amazing courage and commitment tended to overshadow. A man of intense feeling, he was also a man of remarkable intellectUal qualities who was ever ready to learn and unlearn. But far less is known of the darker aspects of the trial. This ·boo� seeks to explore them. It is not a defmitive work on the subject. It, however, raises certain issues which have not received the attention they deserved. The farcical character of the trial was not studied in depth; perhaps because Bhagat Singh's culpability in the Saunders' murder was not in question. But the Lahore Conspiracy Case merits study for its own sake as a classic case of abuse of the judicial process for political ends. On May 1, 1930 the Governor-General promulgated an Ordinance establishing · a Special Tribunal to try the case while taking good care to deprive the accused of the right of appeal to the High Court and to its confirmation of death sentences. A little over six months later the Punjab Government got enacted a special statute to set up. a Commission to try certain persons on charges as grave and the same Governor-General secured enactment of a Central law conferring on the accused those very rights of appeal to and confirmation by the High Court. The animus against Bhagat Singh and his comrades could not '-�en Ac " ""' 't�d more brazenly. viii The Trial of Bhagat Singh I have incurred many a debt in what proved to be a very fascinating study. Mr. Ali Sardar Jafri gave a lot of his time for discussions which provided useful insights. It is to him that I owe discovery of the last, priceless letter which Bhagat Singh wrote in his own hand to his youngest brother Kultar immediately after their last meeting. It figures in Part III of the film Literary Storm which he produced and directed for the Films Division of India. He also wrote its script. The Chief Producer of the Films Division, Mr. D. Gautaman, and his staff helped enormously to secure a copy of the letter which is printed in the book. Dr. Bipan Chandra provided some useful material . Dr. Kamlesh Mohan never tired of answering queries besides according her permission for reproduction of the site map attached to the First Information Report, which she improved for publication in her excellent work Militant Nationalism in Punjab. Mr V.N. Narayanan, now editor of The Hindustan Times, very kindly permitted me to consult the old files of The Tribune when he was its editor. Mr A.K. Avasthi, Senior Reprography Officer of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, helped to fill the gaps on references not always precise .. His assistance has been unfailing and invaluable. I owe a lot to him and to the Library as, indeed, I do to the National Archives of India, New Delhi and its Director-General, Mr S . Sarkar, and his colleagues, especially Mr T.V. Haranthe Babu, a Deputy Director-General . I wish to thank Dr. P.C. Rao, Law Secretary, Government of India, for his help Thanks are also due to Dr� S.R. Gunpule, Librarian, Bombay University Library, and his staff and to Mr. Govind B. Kadam, Librarian, High Court Library, Bombay for their invaluable assistance. Mr Sumit Chakravarthy, editor of Mainstream,. was kind to permit reproductiqn of D.P. Das' article "Gandhi and Bhagat Singh". Syed Rahat Hasan, Information Officer, British High Commission, New Deihi, provided bio-data on British mandarins of the late twenties whose ghosts, largely exorc��ed from I'k 4;._ B lock, still stalk the corridors of S r·�+h r;�.J�· 'r'" '"· (':..;�·-' Preface ix ing occasional help to its present occupants. If they, on their part, would unlearn what they should not have learnt from those mysterious spirits, and learn what they ought to, their performance, good as it is, would be better still. None of them, of course, is in any way responsible for the contents of the book. Bombay January 15, A.G. NOORANI 1996 Contents· 1. Preface vii Introduction xiii The Man and the Phenomenon 1 2. The Family and Politics 9 3 . Saunders Murder 1 8 4. Bombs in the Central Assembly 27 5! Hour of Trial 47 6. When Jinnah Defended Bhagat Sjngh . 7. The Magisterial Farce 8. Trial by Tribunal 76 130 9. A Hand-picked Tribunal 1 64 10. The Judgment 176 11. Ritual in the Privy Council 1 9 1 12. If Lord Atkin were on the Board? 2 1 7 13. The Execution 223 14. Gandhi's Truth 233 Epilogue The Moral Abyss 254 Appendix I Text of the Complaint 259 xii The Trial of Bhagat Singh Appendix II The Government Advocate's Speech Appendix Ill Jinnah's Speech in the Central Legislative Assembly on September 12 and 14, 1929 263 270 Appendix IV "Lahore Conspiracy Case Prisoners Threaten Hunger-strike" 283 Appendix V Text of the Press Communique on New Jail Rules 288 Appendix VI Ordinance No. III of 1930 292 Appendix VII The Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance, Lahore High Court Bar Association Report, June 1 9, 1930 298 Appendix VIII Kishen Singh' s Petition to the Tribunal 302 Appendix IX Bhagat Singh ' s Letter to his father 306 Appendix X Bhagat Singh ' s last Petition 308 Appendix XI Sukh Dev 's Letter 3 1 0 Appendix XII Gandhi and Bhagat Singh D.P. Das 3 1 5 Appendix XIII Punjab Act IV of 1930 and Related Papers 32 1 INDEX