Charges under Section 307 I. P. C. (attempt to commit murder) and Section 3 of the Explosives Substance Act were framed against Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt, accused in the Assembly Bomb Case by Mr. F. B. Pool, Additional District Magistrate, today. The accused were committed to the sessions. The accused refused to make any statements at this stage and said they would make their statements later on if they thought it necessary.
More Prosecution Witnesses
Eight more prosecution witnesses were examined.
The Public Prosecutor declared that Government was not going to produce the pistol or the loaded magazine alleged to have been recovered from Bhagat Singh.
Defence Arguments
Mr. Asaf Ali spoke for about half an hour before the court framed charges. He argued that the prosecution evidence was conflicting and that they had failed to prove any attempt to kill any person. Section 307 I. P. C. could not be applied at all. Nobody had even received serious injuries. The Bombs had proved to be more crackers.
The purpose of the accused at the most was a demonstration in the Assembly and not to kill any person. One Bomb fell in the passage and the other on a vacant bench when most of the members had left the Assembly.
Why travel to Explosives Act
HE pointed out to the court that it would be illegal to frame both charges against the accused (307 I. P. C. attempt to murder and Section 3 of the Explosives Act.)
Red Letter Read out
HE read out the Red letter and said the whole incident was meant “ to make the deaf hear “ as was said in the beginning of the leaflet. He said it was not malicious. “ It was the act of idealists, you may call them impatient or misguided.”
Delhi
The red turbans with lathies and a host of C. I. D. men were again witnessed all around the District Jail, when Bomb case again came up for hearing before Mr. F. B. Pool, Additional District Magistrate to day. R. B. Suraj Norain Public Prosecutor appeared for the crown, while Mr. Asaf Ali, Bar-at-Law, conducted the defence.
“Long Live Revolution “
The accused were brought in at 10-20 a.m. “Long live the Revolution “ again shouted Bhagat Singh and ‘’Down, Down with British Imperialism” roared Dutt in a very loud voice, “ All right “ observed the court as the accused who bore handcuffs on both hands took their seats.
The prosecution evidence was then resumed.
An Honorary Magistrate’s Evidence
Sardar Sahib Sobha Singh contractor and Honorary Magistrate of New Delhi was the first witness of the day who said that he was present in the visitor’s gallery on the 8th April. He went there when the division bell rang on the Trade Disputes Bill. Some friends of his were seated near the Ladies’ gallery and be looked towards them when the President announced the result of voting.
“Like a Cigarette Case “
Soon after that he noted a man standing in the gallery behind his friend throw something like a cigarette case in the Assembly Chamber. He merely saw the band of the thrower, soon after he heard the explosion below. He looked towards the spot and noticed smoke coming out and members started to leave their seats.
In the galleries also people began to leave their seats. The first noise was not very loud and be did not realize what had happened, He did not find his friends in their seats. Be then saw another man, who stood by the first man, throw something. Behind him were two police constables. He told them “why don’t you go and catch the two men?” He too followed them. He later heard some revolver shots, soon after he saw the police constable bringing the accused. He identified the two accused saying that Sardar Bhagat Singh threw the the first bomb while Mr. Dutt threw other. Witnesses had attended the identification parades and identified Dutt at New Delhi police station and Bhagat Singh at the Kotwali.
A Nominated Member
He was then submitted to a searching cross examination by Mr. Asaf Ali. He said he was a Government Contractor and did most of the work for the Government,
Q -”And therefore you are a nominate I member of the Delhi Municipality”.
A- ‘No, I am nominated because of being a Sikh”.
He further stated that he stood about 200 (two hundred) feet from the accused. He was a usual visitor to the Assembly. The skylights opposite to him were open and were closed on his back in order to avoid sunlight which came from his back. There were over 400 visitors. All the seats were occupied and people stood in 3 rows. S. B. Jawahar Singh, M.L.A. a friend of his was sitting below. He saw the accused standing on the floor above the seats near a pillar. He did not see any of them standing on the chairs.
Q.- “Did you see the faces of the bomb throwers “.
A.- “When I saw bombs being thrown, I noticed one of them wore a soft hat, a khaki short and a khaki shirt. The other was bare headed, wore a khaki shirt and shorts. I could not see their faces clearly at the time, but saw them clearly after their arrest.”
He gave the description of the accused to the police and gave a brief statement. His police statement was read out to him.
Q – “In your statement you did not mention the hat. You mentioned a cap”
A-” Yes”
It is not a Correct Statement
When the statement was read out to him he said “This is not a correct statement as they took it down in shorthand”.
Q -”Was the statement read out to you and you said it is correct?”
A.-The last part of the statement was not read out.”
Q.-”Did you read the news with regard to the Bomb Case in the newspapers and about the soft cap?”
A. -”Yes I have read them “
Q.-You saw their photographs a few days after in the newspapers”?
A -”Yes”.
Q -”Your police statement says that you saw two European and two Indian policemen arresting accused.
Witness replied he did not tell the police that he saw accused being actually arrested by two Europeans and two Indians.
On the bomb exploding hardly 10 or 15 persons were left behind in the galleries at the time the accused were brought under arrest.
He did not see where the first bomb fell. The explosion seemed to be at the place from where the smoke came from. It fell in the passage. The official benches were not full, some were entirely vacant. The second explosion took place on an empty bench. The official box (visitors) was full of officials. The first bomb fell 25 ft. from the official gallery. Pt. Malaviya was standing at 10 at 12 feet from the first place of the explosion. Non-official benches commenced from there and were sufficiently occupied. The atmosphere was very tense in the Chamber and galleries and the President’s ruling on the Public Safety Bill was the chief point of interest.
All eyes on the President
All the persons were looking up. The President after having said “Order, order” said “Now, I will give my ruling.” All attention was concentrated on him and him alone. The attention was diverted when the explosion actually took place.
Simon Recalled
Sir John Simon was present in the President’s gallery that day.
‘’I Wrested Pistol”
Sergeant H. D. Terry of the Delhi Police now posted at Simla was the next witness, who said he was on duty in the Assembly on the day of the incident.
At about 12 30 to 1 pm., he saw the explosion of a bomb hear Sir George Schuster. Mr. Johnson, Traffic inspector told him to see that no visitor went out of gallery. Just then the second bomb exploded and two pistol shots were fired in quick succession. People began to ran out. Some people shouted: “There they are”. He ran towards the two accused and saw them standing midway between central door and the ladies’ gallery and were shouting “Down with Imperialism” and “We have done it”.
Strong Objection
Mr. Asaf Ali strongly objected to the words “We have done it.” As they were not allowed under the Evidence Act, to be recorded. The court cut off the words objected to. One of the accused appeared to be in a more excited condition than the other and held a pistol. He rushed towards them, snatched the pistol and arrested them both. He met Mr. Johnson both of whom searched them and found some newspapers, pamphlets etc. A fully charged magazine was recovered from Bhagat Singh. He then received instructions to take the accused to Mr Collin’s (Superintendent, Assembly) room. When he found the accused, they were standing by themselves. Witness next described what clothes the accused had on at the time of arrests.
He identified the accused in court as the persons whom he arrested in the Assembly.
He testified to the recovery list of the pistol signed by him. He remembered having recovered two red pamphlets, but did not know from whom. He also noticed red pamphlets thrown in the Assembly. The pistol was not proved in the court.
Searching Cross-examination
Cross examined by Mr. Asaf Ali, witness said he was on duty near the ladies’ gallery. The ladies did not come out after the first explosion. There was a hustle. Mr. Johnson was with him till then but went out soon. On the second explosion there was a rush at the door. He did not leave the ladies’ gallery until the ladies had gone out. He later added: “All had not gone out. “
He did not know how many policemen were on duty that day.
The Heroic Deed
He did not see anybody between the ladies’ gallery and the accused. He did not see anybody in the gallery when he was going to arrest the accused. He was the first to arrest them. He did not see any other policeman or a visitor while passing through the corridor, and while arresting the accused. Mr. Johnson arrived after 4 or 5 seconds.
Q -Nobody saw your heroic deed of wresting the pistol from Bhagat Singh which you claim to have done.
A.-I did not see anybody.
“You did not wrest it”
Q-I suggest it to you that you did not wrest the pistol from Bhagat Singh’s hand.
A.-I did wrest it from Bhagat Singh’s hand.
Q-”You picked is up from a seat”.
A.-No. I did not pick it up from a seat.
Bhagat Sing had no hat on his head then.
At the time of the search no search list was made. It was made latter in Mr. Collin’s room. When he wrested the pistol from Bhagat Singh, it was not pointed towards him. Bhagat Singh was playing with the pistol. Neither of the accused made any attempts at resistance.
Q.-Who picked up the hat, if it was not on Bhagat Singh’s head.
A.-I don’t know.
Q.-Did you allow the accused to search you before you searched them.
A.- We did not allow the accused to search us.
Q.-Did you not pick up red pamphlet lying in the Chamber?
A.- No after the first bomb was thrown quite a number of people were present. He could not name any one.
R. B. Suraj Narain, Public Prosecutor announced at this stage that the Government was not willing to prove the pistol and the magazine.
Mr. Asaf Ali: Then strike out all the evidence with regard to the pistol, because it is not to be produced in the case.
Mr. Johnson’s Evidence
Mr. C. Johnson, Traffic Inspector, was the next witness. He stated that he was a witness to the first explosion. He had thought somebody had committed a crime in the Chamber down below. He ran down. But at the exit door, he heard the second explosion and heard two pistol shots. This gave him an idea that the crime was committed upstairs in the gallery. He issued orders for closing the exit doors. After making other police precautions he went back to Sergeant Tarry. Mrs. Gupta told him that the crime was committed in the middle of the visitors gallery.
Mr. Asaf Ali objected to the mentioning of a third person. Mrs. Gupta, as it was against the Evidence Act. Witness then said he came to know that the crime was committed in the middle of the visitors’ gallery. He went to that direction and met Sergeant Tarry, who had arrested the two accused. Sergeant Tarry had a pistol in his hand. He searched the accused and took out a loaded magazine from Bhagat Singh’s pocket and two red leaflets etc. from Mr. Dutt. He next testified the search list which included a copy of one Hindustan Times. He was then cross-examined by Mr. Asaf Ali.
“Wore a Hat”
He said there were no outsiders present, when the recovery list were made. They did not allow the accused to search them before they searched the accused Bhagat Singh was wearing hat, when he was brought under arrest by Sergeant Tarry.
Sardar Chet Singh
Sardar Chet Singh, Sub-Inspector in charge New Delhi police station said that the Assembly was in his jurisdiction. He was in the New Delhi Court when he got a telephone message 1 p. m. that bombs had exploded in the Assembly. He ran to the Assembly. But the gates were closed.
When he got into the Assembly Chamber, he found a number of fragments of metal. The things were collected, were put in an envelope and sealed. The next day, the hall was thoroughly searched and some broken pieces of furniture were also sealed.
All these things were put by him in a big box and sealed, When Mr. Robson, Inspector of Explosives, came to Delhi, witness showed the contents to him and sealed the box. He next related the tale of the journey to Calcutta for chemical inspection, etc.
No Non-officials Present
Cross-examined by Mr. Asaf Ali witness said that some outsiders were also present, when the recovery list were made by him. They were Mr. Wilson and Sardar Bahadur Singh both Government servants. They signed the lists. There was no non-officials present then. All his doings were entered in the police register. Some of the recovered things were unclaimed. They included a felt cap.
Identification Parades
Sardar Abdul Samad, Magistrate, 1st class, who carried out the identification parades of the accused next made his statement. He said that the first parade was held on April 3, at the New Delhi police station, where Dutt was in custody. All the witnesses were kept in a closed room. Thirteen more persons were mixed in the parade. The accused was asked to change his clothes and take his seat with the 13 outsiders. He then named the witnesses who had identified Dutt. He then related the identification proceedings at the Kotwali where Bhagat Singh was identified.
He was cross-examined by Mr Asaf Ali.
Who Brought Them
Q.-How did you manage to get people who formed the parade at the New Delhi Police Station?”
A. “ They were there before my arrival.” He could not say what happened before that.
Further cross-examined, he said B. K. Dutt changed his clothes but Bhagat Singh did not.
In the parade of Bhagat Singh, some people were sent for from Chandni Chauk to match Bhagat Singh.
He said he had mentioned all witnesses who identified the accused, no one else identified the accused.
Mr. Safdar Ali, Sub Inspector, New Delhi, was a formal witness who testified to the search list etc. Sub-Inspector Hans Raj stated that be made the first report about the bomb incident at the New Delhi Police station.
Cross-examined by Mr Asaf Ali, he said, when he went to the Police Station the accused had been arrested. Mohammed Amen, Head Constable, stated that he wrote the report made by Sub-Inspector Hans Raj.
Prosecution Closed
Jamil Ahmad was then examined with regard to the plan of the Assembly.
The prosecution case was then declared closed by Mr. Suraj Narain, Public Prosecutor.
No statements
The accused were then asked to make their statements. Bhagat Singh stood and replied to the court questions. He said he was a jat.
Q.- Profession?
A.-None
Q.-Residence.
A.-Lahore”
Q.-Mohalla?
A. – We are always moving from one place to another
Feel no Necessity
Q – Were you present in the Assembly on 8th April?
A-”As far as this case is concerned, I feel no necessity to make statement at this stage, If I feel it necessary I will make a statement later on
Why “Long live Revolution”
Q.-Court: When you arrive yesterday and today in the court you shouted “Long live Revolution” what did you mean by it”
Mr. Asaf Ali objected to question and the court agreed with Mr. Asaf Ali, Mr. Suraj Narain also said that the question may not be asked
Dutt says “no”
B. K. Dutt also made no statement saying that he would make a statement later if he thought it necessary. He told the court that he belonged to Burdwan and his father name was Ghosh Behari. He gave his age as 20 years.
The court then proceed to hear argument before “framing the charge.”