The trial of Nathuram Godse: What happened after Gandhi was killed

Godse was sentenced to death in 1948 by a special court set up in Delhi’s Red Fort. In his appeal filed in the Punjab High Court, Godse objected to the court’s finding that there was a conspiracy to kill Gandhi. He remained unrepentant, wrote Justice Khosla, who heard his appeal.

Mahatma Gandhi (left) and Nathuram Godse (right)

During the proceedings, Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse refused to be represented by a lawyer and asked to be allowed to argue his appeal himself. (File photo)

Written by: Alind Chauhan

5 min readNew DelhiJan 31, 2023 02:33 PM IST First published on: Jan 30, 2023 at 09:41 AM IST

Seventy-five years ago on this day (January 30), as Mahatma Gandhi was walking towards the prayer mandap at Birla House in Delhi, 35-year-old Nathuram Godse came before him and pulled out a pistol from his pocket. He fired three shots from point-blank range that hit Gandhi in the chest, stomach, and groin. Within 15 minutes, the Father of the Nation was dead.

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Godse was apprehended by military personnel who were at the spot, and his pistol was snatched away. The assassin was beaten by the crowd before police took him into custody. Subsequently, he was lodged at a police station on Tughlaq Road, where an FIR was registered.

Godse’s trial

The trial began in May 1948 at a special court set up in Delhi’s Red Fort. The monument had earlier been the venue for the trials of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar who was deported to Burma and, around nine decades later, of the members of the Indian National Army.

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The trial took place before Special Judge Atma Charan, a senior member of the judicial branch of the Indian Civil Service. The prosecution was led by CK Daphtary, then Advocate General of Bombay, who later became Solicitor General of India, and then the Attorney General for India.

Godse along with other accused, including Narayan Apte and Vinayak Savarkar, were allowed to take the help of counsel of their choice.

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In his book, ‘Why They Killed Gandhi: Unmasking the Ideology and the Conspiracy’, Ashok Kumar Pandey wrote, “the law took its course wherein he (Godse) was supplied with legal aid at government expense, and most of his demands during his stay in jail were fulfilled.” On the second day of the trial, Godse admitted that while in detention, everyone had been civil to him, Pandey wrote.

Between June and November 1948, the special court heard 149 witnesses. The prosecution brought on record 404 documentary exhibits and 80 material exhibits.

According to Justice G D Khosla, who was part of the three-judge Bench at Punjab High Court that heard the appeals of Godse and others, during the hearing, the most important witness for the prosecution was Digambar Badge. “He was alleged to be one of the conspirators and an active participant in the murder plan”, Justice Khosla wrote in his book, ‘The Murder of the Mahatma’. After his arrest, Badge admitted his guilt and agreed to incriminate his accomplices, Justice Khosla wrote.

The judgment was pronounced on February 10, 1949. Judge Atma Charan convicted Godse, Apte, and five others of the crime. Both Godse and Apte were sentenced to death. Savarkar was acquitted.

The judge also announced that the convicts could file an appeal against the order. Four days later, all of them filed their appeals in the Punjab High Court, which was then known as the East Punjab High Court, and located in Shimla.

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Interestingly, instead of challenging the conviction, Godse’s appeal objected to the court’s finding that he wasn’t the only one involved in Gandhi’s murder and there was a larger conspiracy to kill him.

Appeal in High Court

The appeals were heard by a Bench that including Justice Khosla, Justice A N Bhandari, and Justice Achhru Ram. During the proceedings, Godse refused to be represented by a lawyer and asked to be allowed to argue his appeal himself. The court accepted his request.

Justice Khosla wrote that while speaking in the court, the assassin didn’t repent his crime and used the opportunity to “exhibit himself as a fearless patriot and a passionate protagonist of Hindu ideology”.

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“He had remained completely unrepentant of his atrocious crime, and whether out of a deep conviction in his beliefs or merely in order to make a last public apology, he had sought this opportunity of displaying his talents before he dissolved into oblivion,” Justice Khosla wrote.

The Bench gave its verdict on June 21, 1949. It confirmed the findings and sentences of the lower court except in the cases of Dattatraya Parchure and Shankar Kistayya, who were acquitted of all charges.

Final appeals

The convicts also filed a petition for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council, which was the highest court in India during British rule, and was replaced by the Supreme Court in 1950. However, the petition was rejected.

The hanging of Godse and Apte became inevitable after the Governor-General of India rejected their mercy petitions. Godse’s mercy petition was filed by his parents, not him. Both men were hanged on November 15, 1949, in Ambala jail.