BARINDRA KUMAR GHOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, Ashok Chandra Nandy, having died since the institution of these appeals, there are at present before the Court 18 appellants, all of whom have been convicted under Chapter VI of the Indian Penal Code of offences against the State. Two of the appellants, Barindra Kumar Ghose and Ullaskar Dutt, were convicted under Secs.121, 121A and 122 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to death; eight of them, i.e., Indra Nath Nandi, Upendra Nath Banerjee, Bibhuti Bhusan Sircar, Hrishikesh Kanjilal, Sudhir Kumar Sircar, Sailendra Nath Bose, Hem Chandra Das and Barendra Chandra Sen, were convicted under Secs.121, 121A., 122 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to transportation for life; Abinash Chandra Bhattacharjee was convicted under Secs.121 and 121A of the Indian Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to transportation for life: Indu Bhushan Roy was convicted under Secs.121A and 122 and sentenced to transportation for life; Pares Chandra Maulik, Sisir Kumar Ghose and Nirapada Roy were convicted under Secs.121A and 122 of the Indian Indian Penal Code and sentenced to transportation for ten years; Sushil Kumar Sen and Bal Krishna Hari Kane were convicted under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to seven years transportation, and Krishna Jiban Sanyal was convicted under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment. On all, except the last three, the additional penalty has been imposed of forfeiture of their property. The appellants were so convicted and sentenced by the Additional Sessions Judge of Alipore, who heard the case with Assessors. Both the Assessors considered the appellants, Barindra Kumar Ghose, Ullaskar Dutt, Upendra Nath Banerjee, Bibhuti Bhusan Sircar, Hrishikesh Kanjilal, Hem Chandra Das and Indu Bhushan Roy guilty of an offence under Section 122 of the Indian Penal Code, and to one of them it appeared that another of the appellants, Pares Chandra Maulik, was guilty under the same section. But in no other case did either Assessor deem the guilt of the accused to be established on any of the charges preferred against them, though one of them considered Abinash guilty under Section 124A.

(2.) The Prosecution story may be briefly stated. According to it, the appellant, Barindra Kumar Ghose, has throughout been the master mind; he conceived the scheme, he designed the means, and he inspired the work. As far back as 1903 or 1904 he began what he believed to be his mission of preaching throughout Bengal the independence of India. Then he returned for a while to Baroda, where his brother, Arabinda Ghose, was a Professor in the Gaekwar's College. In 1905 came the partition of Bengal, which, according to the case for the Crown, was "unquestionably a landmark in this attempted revolution," and was used in its promotion. This is how it has been described by the learned Counsel for the Crown in its bearing on the present case. "Those who used this engine regarded it from this point of view--that it was a line of demarcation between a population who were the same in kindred, faith, colour, caste, creed and sympathies. They said an unnecessary line of demarcation had been drawn, and that the effect of it had been to sever people who had a common point of view." Then, after a reference to the "Jugantar" newspaper which has played a large part, it is said, in preparing the minds of the youth of Bengal to receive the insidious doctrines of rebellion, he proceeded: "The partition would, therefore, lend an additional tone to their invectives in this paper, and from that point of view they could understand why it was that the 16 October had always been regarded as a day of humiliation and prayer. Those who used it had recognised the full value of the partition as a fresh lever to work on the minds of the people." And so, according to the theory of the Crown, the partition induced a state of mind in the young men of Bengal ready to receive the doctrines of independence which the Jugantar incessantly preached. Then, it is said, Barin, who had thus dexterously utilized the opportunities that came in his way, began a scheme of recruitment, whereby he sought to attract to himself and his purposes a band of youths inspired with deep religious fervour, and indoctrinated with the principles of absolute discipline, self-negation and intense love of the mother country, which would lead them willingly to lay down their lives at what they were taught to regard as a paramount call of duty. Ultimately, the prosecution case is, a society was created on these lines, having for its aim the overthrow of the present form of Government, and ready to effect its purpose even by waging war against the King. This society, it is said, had its head-quarters at No. 32, Muraripukur Road in the suburbs of Calcutta, to which I will hereafter refer as the Garden, and it also had, what have been termed, "places of conspiracy" in various parts of Calcutta, and at a remote country house in the neighbourhood of Baidyanath called Seal's Lodge.

(3.) We are asked to hold that the appellants were all members of this society, and joined in this unlawful enterprise; that they collected arms and ammunition with the intention of waging war against the King; that they with others, known and unknown, conspired to wage war against the King or to deprive him of the sovereignty of British India; and, finally, that they actually waged war against the King.