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A revolutionarys case
A.G. Noorani
Updated about 9 hours ago
THE proceedings in court on the FIR in the case against Bhagat
Singh for the murder of SSP John P. Saunders in Lahore in 1928
indicate yet another stage in the revival of interest in Bhagat Singh in
Pakistan. Some years ago, there was a move in Lahore to build a
memorial at Shadman Chowk where he was hanged on March 23,
1931.
The fact of the murder is not doubted; nor the farce which marked the
entire legal proceedings from Bhagat Singhs arrest till his execution.
His murder had been arranged by the British Raj. Every rule in the
book was violated.
Gandhi was hostile, partly because of his policy of non-violence, but
also because, as an Intelligence Bureau report said, Bhagat Singhs
popularity equalled that of Gandhi. The top leaders of Congress
showed no interest in Bhagat Singhs trial. Six of the seven
eyewitnesses collapsed.
Bhagat Singh had broken with his mentor Lala Lajpat Rai as he had
turned communal. But he was determined to avenge Rais death from
wounds inflicted on him by police superintendent J.A. Scott during a
procession in Lahore in October 1928. On Dec 17, Rajguru, Jai
Gopal and he shot Saunders by mistake, evading arrest. It is not
surprising that the FIR filed after Saunders murder cited two
unknown gentlemen. They might well have gone scot free had not the
evil genius Sukh Dev goaded them to go further. Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt lobbed bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly
in New Delhi on April 18, 1929; not with an intent to kill, but to send a
message it takes a loud voice to make the dead hear. They
surrendered to the police.
They were sentenced to transportation for life on June 12, 1929. The
police in Lahore now found their man. Bhagat Singh and his
associates were put on trial before a magistrate. On July 1, 1929
proceedings in the Lahore Conspiracy Case began. Ill-treatment
forced the accused to go on a hunger strike and to refuse to appear in

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forced the accused to go on a hunger strike and to refuse to appear in
court. The government decided to amend the Criminal Procedure
Code, shockingly, to enable the court to dispense with the attendance
of an accused if he voluntarily rendered himself incapable of
remaining in court.
In speeches in the assembly in September 1929, Jinnah tore into the
government winning applause after applause from the spellbound
house, The Tribune reported. The man who goes on a hunger strike
has a soul. He is moved by that soul and he believes in the justice of
his cause. He is not an ordinary criminal who is guilty of cold-blooded,
sordid, wicked crime.
The government lost the vote on the adjournment motion to censure its
conduct. It decided on a diabolical move. The governor-general had
the power to promulgate an ordinance, subject to ratification by the
assembly or one which is not so subject. But its life was a mere six
months. On May 1, 1930, he promulgated an ordinance to set up a
three-judge tribunal to try the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
Proceedings before the magistrate were aborted. No appeal against
the tribunals verdict was allowed. The Lahore High Courts
jurisdiction was ousted. The provision concerning the absentee
accused was incorporated. Judges were removable at will. A tribunal
empowered to award a sentence of death was itself under death
sentence of six months.
The high court was barred from confirming the death sentence or
issuing a writ of habeas corpus. Three judges of the Lahore High
Court were appointed to the tribunal. Two of them were Englishmen.
The third was an Indian barrister Sayad Agha Haider. Proceedings
commenced on May 5, 1990.
Justice Haiders close questioning of witnesses and his dissociation
on May 12, 1930 from the tribunals order of removal of the accused
from the court resulted in his own removal from the tribunal on June
21, 1930. Another judge was also removed, and Sir Abdul Qadir and
Justice Tapp were made members.
The viceroy could not take the risk of a divided verdict. The
reconstituted tribunal delivered the desired death sentence on Oct 7,
1930, just before its own death on Oct 31. Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev
and Rajguru were executed on March 23, 1931.

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The tribunal which acted as an accomplice of the state was set up by
an ordinance which has no precedent in the annals of the law. In a
detailed report, a committee of the Lahore High Court Bar
Association, dated June 19, 1930, exposed its flaws. It was signed by
Gokal Chand Nartang, Manak Chand, Barkat Ali and Sir Mohammed
Iqbal.
The writer is author of The Trial of Bhagat Singh: Politics of Justice,
published by OUP Pakistan.