֍ The INA trials were held at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
֍ The Indian National Congress fielded its best lawyers in defence of the INA soldiers.
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֍ Nehru, who had given up his legal practice as early as in 1920 responding to Gandhi’s call for non-cooperation, wore his black gown to appear in defence.
֍ Even though the INA did not achieve much militarily, the trials made a huge impact in inspiring the masses.
֍ The colonial government’s arrogance once again set the stage for another mass mobilisation.
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֍ The Indian National Congress, after the debacle at the Simla Conference (June 25 and July 14,1945) plunged into reaching out to the masses by way of public meetings across the country.
֍ The INA figured more prominently as an issue in all these meetings than even the Congress’s pitch for votes in the elections (under the 1935 Act) that were expected soon.
֍ It was in this context that the colonial rulers sent up three prominent officers of the INA – Shah Nawaz Khan, P.K. Sehgal and G.S. Dhillon – to trial.
֍ The press in India reported the trials with all empathy and editorials sought the soldiers freed immediately.
֍ The INA week was marked by processions, hartals and even general strikes across the nation demanding release of the soldiers.
֍ The choice of the three men to be sent up for trial ended up rallying all political opinion behind the campaign.
֍ The Muslim League, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Hindu Maha Sabha, all those who had stayed clear of the Quit India campaign, joined the protests and raised funds for their defence.
֍ Although the trial court found Sehgal, Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan guilty of treason, the commander in chief remitted the sentences and set them free on January 6,1946.
֍ The INA trials, indeed, set the stage for yet another important stage in the history of the Indian National Movement in February 1946. The ratings of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) raised the banner of revolt.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUES . In the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon are remembered as: UPSC 2021
(a) leaders of Swadeshi and Boycott Movement
(b) members of the Interim Government in 1946
(c) members of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly
(d) officers of the Indian National Army
Ans (d)
