The Execution of Bhagat Singh: Legal Heresies of the Raj

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Bhagat Singh, one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian Independence movement, was only twenty-three when he was executed in 1931. In their attempt to punish him, British authorities used controversial legislative powers to make an ordinance supposedly aimed at preserving ‘peace, order and good government’ but one that was never approved by the Central Assembly in India nor the British Parliament. A three-judge special tribunal was mandated to complete a hearing within a fixed period that did not even allow the 457 prosecution witnesses to be cross-examined.

Dr. Satvinder Singh Juss, a London-based law professor, and practicing barrister, looks at these and other flaws in the legal process that were followed leading to the hanging. Full of engrossing detail from previously unpublished original archival material, including documents translated here for the first time, The Execution of Bhagat Singh considers the case for setting aside the sentence of execution in retrospect and for an official pardon for the revolutionary today.