Udham Singh
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A brief biography
Kamal Preet Kaur, Udham Singh, the man who avenged the massacre, April 7, 2019: The Times of India
Michael O’Dwyer Was Shot Dead At A Meeting Of East Indian Association In London On March 13, 1940. His Murder Trial Lasted Two Days
A day after Sunam-born Ghadar Party revolutionary Udham Singh shot dead Sir Michael O’Dwyer, former lieutenant governor of British Punjab, in a meeting of the East Indian Association at Caxton Hall in London, UK’s Daily Mirror on March 14, 1940, carried a banner headline, ‘Assassin shoots minister, kills knight’.
O’Dwyer was at the helm of affairs in undivided Punjab under British rule during the Jallianwala Bagh carnage and had supported ‘General’ Reginald Dyer ordering firing on unarmed civilians.
Udham Singh, dressed in an overcoat and a hat, fired several shots, leaving Lord Zetland, secretary for India; Lord Lamington, a former governor of Bombay and Sir Louis Dane, former governor of Punjab, wounded. He was overpowered and arrested on the spot.
The Hull Daily Mail of the same day reported, “Mohamed Singh Azad… believed to be a 37-year-old Indian appeared at Bow Street, London today, charged with the murder of Sir Michael O’Dwyer... As he entered the building, Azad was smiling and chatting to the officers who accompanied him...’’ His name and religion caused some confusion. Initially, charged in the name of Mahommed Singh Azad, it was later discovered that the name in his passport was Udham Singh.
His statement recorded after the incident and produced as evidence carried in Daily Mirror's report on April 2, 1940, said, “Ready to die, says Indian... I am dying for my country.”
The murder trial lasted two days, June 4-5. Interestingly, when Udham Singh was brought to court for trial, he pleaded ‘Not Guilty’.
On June 5, the prosecution questioned Udham Singh before the case was summed up and the jury unanimously pronounced him guilty of murder. An appeal filed on his behalf on June 24, citing inadequate defence before the jury, was turned down. He was executed in Pentonville Prison, London, on July 31, 1940.
Transcript of highlights from the trial
“Prisoner at the Bar, you stand convicted of murder. Have you anything to say why the court should not give you judgment of death according to law,” the clerk asks Udham Singh in the court of Justice Atkinson at Old Bailey, London, on June 5, 1940. It’s just after 4 pm and the jury has unanimously found Udham Singh guilty of the murder of former Punjab lieutenant-governor Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer after a trial that began the previous day on June 4, making it perhaps one of the shortest trials in the history of Old Bailey.
According to court records of the case, transcript of the shorthand of trial accessed by the TOI at British Library, Udham Singh responded, “Yes Sir, I have a statement. I say down with British Imperialism in India and let us have peace. Read your own history. You have had many inhuman monsters, cold blooded and bloodthirsty who have been the rulers of India...”
However, Justice Atkinson intervenes, “I am not going to listen to a political speech”. He asks Udham to pass the note from where he’s reading.
Justice Atkinson: “Is that written in English?”
Udham Singh: “Yes.”
Justice Atkinson: “I shall understand it much better if you will hand it to me to read.”
Udham Singh: “No, I want it myself. Not for you.”
Justice Atkinson: “I cannot make out what you are saying.”
Udham Singh: “Who will read it?”
Justice Atkinson: “I will read it.”
Udham Singh: “I want the jury and the whole lot to read it.”
McClure (counsel for prosecution): May I remind your Lordship that there are powers under the emergency powers of the Defence Act which enable your Lordship in any case to hear things in camera.
Justice Atkinson: You may take it that nothing will be published of what you say…
Udham Singh: I did it to protest and this is what I mean. I want to explain. The jury was misled about the address. Shall I read it now?
Justice Atkinson: Yes, get on with it.
Udham Singh: I should like to read the lot, you know.
Justice Atkinson: You are only entitled to say …why sentence of death should not be passed upon you. You are not entitled to make a political speech.
Udham Singh: I don’t care about dying… May I still read it?
Justice Atkinson: Say anything you have got to say to the point, but as far as I could hear you began by denouncing the British government or the British Empire, and we are not going to have that here. That is nothing to the point.
Udham Singh: I am not afraid to die. I am proud to die. I want to help my native land, and I hope when I have gone that in my place will come some others of my countrymen to drive the dirty dogs... when I am free of the country. I am standing before an English jury in an English court. You people go to India and when you come back you are given prizes and put into the House of Commons, but when we come to England are put to death. In any case I do not care anything about it, but when you dirty dogs come to India... the intellectuals, they call themselves, the rulers… and they order machine guns to fire on the Indian students without hesitation ... (inaudible)... killing, mutilating and destroying. We know what is going on in India --- hundreds of thousands of people being killed by your dirty dogs.
Justice Atkinson: I am not going to hear any more of this so you can put this paper away. I am going to pass sentence upon you.
Udham Singh: You do not want to hear anymore. I have to say a lot.
Justice Atkinson: I am not going to hear any more of that, but if you have anything relevant to say...
Udham Singh: You people are dirty. You don’t want to hear from us what you’re doing in India. Beasts, beasts, beasts. (Proclamation)
Udham Singh: England, England, down with Imperialism, down with the dirty dogs.
Justice Atkinson then passed the sentence of death….
I am not afraid to die. I am proud to die. I want to help my native land...
