3 min readJalandharMar 23, 2019 09:48 AM IST
First published on: Mar 23, 2019 at 09:48 AM IST
To prove that Bhagat Singh was not guilty of killing Saunders, advocate Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, who heads Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation (BSMF) in Pakistan, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court in March 2013. (Representational Image)
The family of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Friday urged to expedite the proceedings in a 6-year-old case, which was filed in the Lahore High Court to reopen a 9-decade old case pertaining to the murder of the then Assistant Superintendent of Police John Saunders in Lahore in 1928. The family’s requests comes on the the eve of the 88th martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh.
Bhagat Singh along with Rajguru and Sukhdev were awarded capital punishment on March 23, 1931 by the British for allegedly killing Saunders. Bhagat Singh’s name, it has been alleged, was not there in the FIR registered on December 17, 1928 at Anarkali police station of Lahore.
To prove that Bhagat Singh was not guilty of killing Saunders, advocate Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, who heads Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation (BSMF) in Pakistan, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court in March 2013. in his petition, Quershi had sought reopening of the case that led to eventaual hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. The case was filed after a copy of the FIR, registered on December 17, 1928, was provided by Pakistan Police.
Abhay Singh Sandhu, the nephew of Bhagat Singh, told The Indian Express that a three-judge bench had awarded the death sentence to three freedom fighters. Advocate Qureshi has demanded that a five-judge bench reopen and hear the case.
“The last hearing of the case was in 2016 and now we are waiting for next hearing. Qureshi has already filed an application for early hearing in the case. We hope the court will take up it for hearing soon,” Sandhu said.
Earlier, a team led by Qureshi had visited Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh on April 27, 2016. They had also met Bhagat Singh’s neice Gurjeet Kaur at village Ambala Jattan in Hoshiarpur district.
Qureshi had told the family that he had heard about Bhagat Singh from his father and later read several books on and about him. During that time he came to know about the case that decided Bhagat Singh’s fate. He pursued the matter and managed to get a copy of the 88-year-old FIR.
“It was shocking that his name was not in the FIR and still he was awarded capital punishment,” Qureshi had said.
He also informed that Pakistan government has renamed Bhagat Singh’s native village, Banga Chakk number 105, as Bhagatpura. The process of naming Shadman Chowk (where they were hanged) as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk is under process.
To prove that Bhagat Singh was not guilty of killing Saunders, advocate Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, who heads Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation (BSMF) in Pakistan, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court in March 2013. (Representational Image)
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