Shaheed Diwas: When Bhagat Singh rebuked his father for writing a mercy plea

In a final bid to save his son, Bhagat Singh’s father wrote to the tribunal, pleading that his son was innocent, and the judges grant him mercy. Bhagat Singh, however, was not willing to compromise on his principles.

Bhagat Singh was only 23 when he died. (Wikimedia Commons)

4 min readNew DelhiMar 24, 2024 12:16 PM IST First published on: Mar 23, 2024 at 06:22 PM IST

March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas, or Martyr’s Day, in India. On this day in 1931, Bhagat Singh, along with fellow revolutionaries Sukhdev Thapar and S Rajguru, were hanged to death in Lahore Central Jail, for murdering British police officer John Saunders.

While Bhagat Singh was being tried, his father Kishan wrote to the special tribunal pleading that his son was innocent, and the tribunal grant him mercy. Bhagat Singh, however, wanted nothing to do with his father’s plea, and wrote a strong letter rebuking him. Here is the story.

Bhagat Singh’s arrest, re-arrest, and trial

Bhagat Singh was initially arrested for bombing the Indian Parliament. “It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear,” pamphlets thrown by Singh and his accomplice, Batukeshwar Dutt, said. The idea was not to kill or hurt anyone. It was simply to make a point about the “sham” that was, at the time, the Indian Parliament. Both Singh and Dutt courted arrest, and were sentenced to life in prison for their actions.

Also Read | Five things you did not know about Bhagat Singh: When Jinnah defended him, Nehru praised him

However, Bhagat Singh would also be later re-arrested in relation to the Lahore Conspiracy case. In December 1928, Singh and Rajguru had shot dead a 21-year-old British officer, John P Saunders, in Lahore, in what was a case of mistaken identity. The plan was to kill senior British superintendent James Scott for his role in the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a month earlier, during a protest against the Simon Commission.

Viceroy Irwin set up a special tribunal to expedite the trial in the Lahore Conspiracy case — a trial which was decried as unjust in both India and Britain. Nonetheless, on October 7, 1930, the tribunal delivered a 300-page judgement sentencing Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru to death by hanging. The execution was carried out on March 23, 1931.

A father’s mercy plea, rejected by son

During the final stages of the trial, Bhagat Singh’s father, Kishan, wrote to the tribunal, pleading his son’s innocence, and saying that young Bhagat Singh had nothing to do with Saunders’ murder. Kishan Singh himself had been involved in the anti-colonial struggle, most notably during the Ghadhar Movement, but his son’s impending execution made his resolve falter.

In Premium | Looking for Bhagat Singh: letters from jail, a lost photo studio, a statue in Parliament

The same was not the case, however, with Bhagat Singh himself, who issued a strong rebuke to his father for writing the mercy plea.

“I was astounded to learn that you had submitted a petition to the members of the Special Tribunal in connection with my defence … It has upset the whole equilibrium of my mind,” he wrote. He said that despite being his father, he was not entitled to make such a move, given that Bhagat Singh himself had always acted “independently without caring for [his] approval or disapproval”.

“I feel as though I have been stabbed in the back,” Singh wrote, accusing his father of “a weakness of the worst type”. He wrote: “I have always been of opinion that all the political workers should be indifferent and should never bother about the legal fight in the law courts, and should boldly bear the heaviest possible sentences inflicted upon them… My life is not so precious … It is not at all worth buying at the cost of my principles.”