Was India’s bravest martyr Bhagat Singh innocent? Pakistan based Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation’s Chairman and Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi strongly believes so.
In November 2015, Advocate Qureshi had filed a plea in Pakistan’s Lahore High Court. A Pakistani court will hear from today a petition to prove the innocence of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in the murder case of a British police officer – John P Saunders.
Its been nearly 85 years since Shahid Bhagat Singh’s execution but that hasn’t deterred Advocate Qureshi to seek justice for the hero, respected and worshipped on both sides of the border. "I will establish Bhagat Singh's innocence in the Saunders case," Advocate Qureshi said.
ADVOCATE QURESHI BELIEVES SHAHID BHAGAT SINGH DIDN’T GET A FAIR HEARING In 2014, Lahore police provided the copy of the original FIR of the killing of Saunders in 1928 to Advocate Qureshi on the court's order. Singh's name was not mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR) of the murder of Saunders for which he was handed down death sentence. The original FIR, written in Urdu, was registered with the Anarkali police station on December 17, 1928 at 4.30pm against two 'unknown gunmen'. The case was registered under sections 302, 1201 and 109 of Indian Penal Code. Petitioner Advocate Qureshi said special judges of the tribunal handling Bhagat Singh's case awarded death sentence to him without hearing the 450 witnesses in the case. Bhagat Singh's lawyers were not given the opportunity of cross-questioning them, he said.
Mr Singh was hanged by British rulers on March 23, 1931 at the age of 23, after being tried under charges for hatching a conspiracy against the colonial government.
In the petition, Advocate Qureshi said Bhagat Singh was a freedom fighter and fought for independence of undivided India. The petitioner further said Bhagat Singh is respected even today in the subcontinent not only by Sikhs but also Muslims.
"It is a matter of national importance and should be fixed before a full bench," he said and pleaded the court to set aside the sentence of Singh by exercising principles of review and order the government to honour him with state award.
This move is bound to revive the patriotic memories of the pre-independence era.
