Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

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.

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,

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),

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. ”