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Lahore10 hours ago
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The picture is of Bhagat Singh.
Pakistan’s Lahore High Court refused to reopen the case of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s conviction in 1931. According to PTI, in the petition filed decades ago, there was also a request to honor Bhagat Singh with the National Award posthumously. The court of Pakistan has also expressed objection to this.
In fact, in 1931, Bhagat Singh was prosecuted on charges of conspiring against British rule. After this, on March 23, 1931, Bhagat Singh was hanged along with his comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev. A petition was filed in Pakistan in 2013 against this sentence.
Then Justice Shujaat Ali Khan had sent the matter to the Chief Justice for the formation of a larger bench. Since then this petition is pending. On September 16, the court said that this matter does not deserve to be heard by a larger bench.
Photograph of Bhagat Singh taken in jail after his arrest for the first time in 1927.
Bhagat Singh hanged without listening to witnesses
According to PTI, Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, who was part of the petitioners’ panel, said that Bhagat Singh’s name was not in the FIR of the murder of British officer John Saunders. The special judges handling Bhagat Singh’s case had sentenced him to death without hearing 450 witnesses in the case. In such a situation, his case should be heard again.
In the petition filed in the court, it was said that Bhagat Singh had fought for the independence of the entire subcontinent. Not only Sikhs but also Hindus and Muslims respect him. Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah had paid tribute to him twice during his speech in the Central Assembly. He also respected Bhagat Singh.
Hanged himself 12 hours ago, couldn’t even eat food
On 24 March 1931, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were to be hanged in Lahore Central Jail. Bhagat was not happy with this decision. On March 20, 1931, he wrote a letter to the Governor of Punjab asking him to be treated like a prisoner of war and instead of being hanged, he should be shot.
In his last letter to his revolutionary comrades on March 22, 1931, Bhagat said, “I also have the desire to live, I do not want to hide it.” The temptation to escape from hanging never came to my heart. I am eagerly waiting for the final exams.”
Bhagat, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7.33 pm, 12 hours before the scheduled time for hanging.
Bhagat and Rajguru shooting British police officer Saunders. However, both of them were to target Police Superintendent James A. Scott instead of Saunders. (Illustration: Gautam Chakraborty)
Bhagat sent to Lahore jail for Saunders case
On June 12, 1929, Bhagat was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assembly blast. However, the gun that Bhagat surrendered in the assembly was the same with which Saunders was also murdered. The police had become aware of this. For this case, Bhagat was shifted to Mianwali Jail of Lahore.
As soon as he reached Lahore jail, Bhagat started demanding that he be treated as a political prisoner and given newspapers and books. After the demand was rejected, Bhagat and his comrades went on a 112-day long hunger strike in jail from 15 June to 5 October 1929.
On July 10, the hearing of the Saunders murder case began and 14 people including Bhagat, Rajguru and Sukhdev were made the main accused. On October 7, 1929, Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru were sentenced to death in this case.
Bhagat kept reading Lenin even in the last hours before hanging.
According to a BBC report, the decision to hang Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru early was taken from the security point of view. When the jail barber Barkat gave this news to some prisoners, they asked him to bring any of Bhagat’s belongings as a memento. Barkat went to Bhagat’s room and brought his pen and comb and gave it to him. The prisoners drew lots and distributed them among themselves.
Bhagat was lodged in jail cell number-14. His lawyer Pran Nath Mehta came to meet him two hours before he was hanged.
Bhagat was aware of the hanging, but he asked Mehta whether he brought his book ‘Revolutionary Lenin’ or not? When Mehta gave him the book, he started reading it immediately. Mehta asked him whether he would like to give any message to the country? Without taking his face off the book, Bhagat said – Only two messages…Down with imperialism and Long live the revolution!
After this Bhagat asked him to convey his thanks to Nehru and Subhash Bose. Who took keen interest in my case. When Mehta met Rajguru, he said – We will meet soon, don’t forget to take my carrom board.
Photo of Bhagat Singh’s death warrant
Bhagat could not even eat his favorite food for the last time
Bhagat knew that he was to be hanged on 24 March. In such a situation, he had requested Bebe, the Muslim sweeper of the jail, to bring food for him from home the evening before. However, he never got that food. When Bhagat came to know that he was going to be hanged on the evening of 23rd, he said – Will you not allow me to finish even one chapter of this book (Revolutionary Lenin)?
Bhagat did not waver even on the gallows
Jailer Charat Singh whispered in the ear of Bhagat standing on the gallows and said, remember that Guru. Bhagat replied- I have not remembered God my whole life. In fact, many times I have cursed God for the sufferings of the poor. If I apologize to him now, he will say that no one is more coward than him. Its end is nearing, so he has come to apologize.
The executioner was called from Shahdara near Lahore to carry out the hanging. As soon as the three reached the gallows, the jail started resonating with slogans like ‘The desire for sarfaroshi is now in our hearts…’, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Hindustan Azad Ho’ and other prisoners also started raising slogans loudly. . Sukhdev was the first to agree to be hanged. The doctors present there, Lieutenant Colonel JJ Nelson and Lieutenant Colonel NS Sodhi, confirmed that all three were dead.
The frightened British broke the back wall of the prison and took away the dead bodies.
According to Chaman Lal, a crowd was gathering outside the jail. This frightened the British and the back wall of the jail was broken. Through the same route, a truck was brought inside the jail and those dead bodies were put on it like luggage in a very humiliating manner.
The last rites were to be performed on the banks of the Ravi, but there was very little water in the Ravi, so it was decided to burn the bodies on the banks of the Sutlej. However, people got wind of this and reached there also. Seeing this the British ran away leaving half dead bodies behind. Later the family performed his last rites. A three-mile long mourning procession in honor of the three started from Neela Gumbad. Men wore black bands on their arms in protest and women wore black sarees.
After 16 years i.e. on 15 August 1947, the British government had to leave India forever.
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