When Iqbal opposed special tribunal for Bhagat Singh trial

Sarika Sharma in Chandigarh

He may be known as the ‘spiritual father of Pakistan’, but poet Allama Iqbal stood by Bhagat Singh and his comrades when the British decided to constitute a special tribunal for their trial.

As the magisterial proceedings in the case started generating public sympathy, the British decided to set up a special tribunal in the 1929 Lahore Conspiracy Case. A special ordinance was brought in to set up the tribunal, but it met with strong opposition from the Lahore High Court Bar Association. Among the members was poet, scholar and lawyer Mohd Iqbal, better known as Allama Iqbal. One of the greatest Urdu poets, he was the national poet of Pakistan and is better known in India for Saare jahan se achcha Hindustaan hamara.

The association had constituted a sub-committee to examine the validity of ordinance No. 3 of 1930, dated May 1, 1930. Its report dated June 19, 1930, was signed by top lawyers from the Lahore High Court -- Allama Iqbal, Gokal Chand Narang and Malik Barkat Ali among others. The report termed the ordinance as “ultra vires of the governor-general” and called it invalid. “...its promulgation was inexpedient and inadvisable; and that there was no justification whatsoever for depriving the high court of its power of hearing the appeal from the final order of the special tribunal constituted under the ordinance.”

The ordinance was brought about by the powers conferred upon the governor-general by Section 72 of the Government of India Act. However, they said that an ordinance could only be promulgated in case of an emergency or for the peace and good government of India or any part of it. However, the committee said that while it felt no such emergency existed, it opined that the ordinance, instead of promoting peace and good government, had jeopardized both. “Far from restoring respect for law, this ordinance, being most unprecedented and allowing the trial of a large number of persons accused of the most serious crimes in their absence and without any right of appeal, has brought not only the administration of law and justice into contempt but has also gone a great way in making the government unpopular.”

Bhagat Singh, too, in a letter to the governor general of India had emphasized that the ordinance under which the tribunal is established is illegal and established with ulterior motive. In the letter dated May 2, 1930, he had called the ordinance a victory of the revolutionaries. “…let us declare once and for all that our spirits cannot be cowed by ordinances. You may crush certain individuals but you cannot crush this nation. As far as this ordinance is concerned, we consider it to be our victory. We had been from the very beginning pointing out that this existing law was a mere make-believe.”

Bhagat Singh’s nephew, Prof Jagmohan, says the fact that these top lawyers stood by the revolutionaries needs to be highlighted because recently the Lahore High Court has been moved to review its delivery of justice to Bhagat Singh and his compatriots.