EMPEROR Vs. BHAWANI PROSAD BHATTACHARJEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case which has been known as the Lebong outrage my brother Judges and myself are of one mind and they have asked me to deliver the judgment of the Court. On May 8 of this year Sir John Anderson-the Governor of this province, visited the races at the Lebong race course at Darjeeling and at about half past three in the afternoon, after the races had finished and the horses were coming in, a man stepped up in front of His Excellency's box with a pistol in his hand, steadied his arm and shot from a distance of about 10 feet at Sir John Anderson. Almost at the same time,-perhaps a second or two later-another man standing somewhat to the side of His Excellency's box also raised a pistol and also fired a shot at Sir John Anderson from a distance of about six feet. It was a miracle that Sir John Anderson was not killed; one can only say it was an act of Providence. Unfortunately a by-stander, one Miss Beulah Thornton, was injured in the ankle from a bullet which had been fired by one or other of those pistols. The Police immediately opened fire on the assailants and at the same time two gentlemen-Mr. Tandy Green in one case and the Raja of Barwari in the other-very gallantly threw themselves on the assailants and prevented further damage being done. The assailants were both wounded by the Police fire.

(2.) They were overpowered and they were taken to the hospital and later on the next day, or the day after, they made confessions which were recorded, and from those confessions it appears that this attempt on the life of the Governor was the result of a conspiracy to murder him which had been hatched some time previously and in which a number of people were concerned. Some of those people were arrested, two of them within a day or two and the rest some time later in June and July. A great deal of evidence had to be collected and eventually in August and in September seven persons were charged before a Special Tribunal appointed to deal with this case. They were charged with various offences-conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess arms, and two of them with possessing arms with intent to murder-I think that is the phrase used in the particular Act under which these two persons were charged. The persons concerned were those who are appealing in this case together with another who has not appealed. The persons charged were Bhawani Prosad Bhattacharji, Rabindra Nath Banerjee alias Samarjit Banerji, Monoranjan Banerji alias Naresh Choudhury, Ujjala alias Amiya Mozumdar alias Malaya alias Malina Devi alias Lila, Madhusudan Banerji alias Amiya Banerji alias Sunil Sen, Sukumar Ghose alias Lantu and Sushil Kumar Chakravarti alias Ajit Kumar Dhar. They were tried before the Special Tribunal the proceedings lasting over some weeks and eventually the first two that I have mentioned, Bhawani and Rabindra, were found guilty of an attempt to murder and were under the law to which I shall advert presently sentenced to death. Monoranjan Banerji was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess arms, and he was, under the charge of conspiracy to murder, sentenced to death. Ujjala a girl of nineteen, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess arms and she was sentenced to transportation for life. Madhusudan Banerji was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess arms and he was sentenced to fourteen years rigorous imprisonment. Sukumar Ghose was found guilty of the like offence and was given a like sentence. Sushil Kumar Chakravarti was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to twelve years rigorous imprisonment.

(3.) The first six have appealed in this case; Sushil has not appealed. Bhawani, Rabindra and Monoranjan have appealed against sentence only and not against conviction. They have been represented here by Mr. Mukherjee, Mr. Lahiri and Mr. Talukdar. The others who are appealing-Ujjala, Madhusudan and Sukumar alias Lantu-were not represented by counsel, but we thought it was essential that they should have their cases presented to us with fullness and with forensic knowledge, and we asked Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Lahiri if they would be good enough to undertake their defence, and they, acting in accordance with the highest traditions of the Bar, agreed to give their services, and did give their services, in this appeal on behalf of Ujjala, Madhusudan and Sukumar without any fee or reward. This Court is very much indebted to them for what they have done, I ought to point out that at the trial before the Commissioners each of these accused was represented by a Pleader and the funds to provide fees to the Pleaders were paid by the Crown.