That India got her freedom from the obnoxious British regime with least bloodshed prevalent in a section of Indian population is an absurdity. On the market are available several history books linking the EIC and the British Raj with mass killing, mayhem and looting. The East India company and later (after 1858) the direct Crown Administration were ruthlessly busy robbing the country till they had left the Indian shores. The "Queen's Proclamation," a written charter, prepared by Victoria, the Queen of the Great Britain, and read by Lord Canning, the first Viceroy of India on November 1, 1858 at Minto Park (name changed to Madan Mohan Malaviya Park) in Allahabad over the change of administration from London
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did not prove to be useful to the natives. The British continued to practise the same principles as before. There was no decline of racial prejudices, ill-treatment of Indian patriots who wanted free India, exploitation of natural resources, etc
Countless young Indians in Bengal shunned the Civil Disobedience movement promoted by Mahatma Gandhi and took to violence as a means to free India. Consequently, they lost their precious lives. Among them, Bengal accounts for a large number of young people who fought valiantly against the unjust British. From 1906 until 1935, the Bengal police intelligence branch recorded a total of over 500 ‘revolutionary crimes’ related to freedom in the province. The Anglo-Indian population in early 1900s was living in perpetual fear on account of individual terrorist activities.
The Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance of 1924, enacted into law as Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act in 1925, in Bengal, British India. The law was implemented to cut down the rise in revolutionary terrorism by the Jugantar group against The Raj in Bengal after 1922.
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (April 13, 1919) perpetrated by Gen. Reginald Dyer put the entire Indian population in rage. The Nonviolent movement lost its objective as the British did not respect Gandhiji's ethical and moral protests. The Anushilan Samiti took the reigns and became reformed under the leadership of Surya Sen, Hem Chandra Kanungo and Bhupendranath Dutta. Having no other alternative, they re-engaged in terrorist activities against the Raj. This led to a string of violent events and in 1923 it saw murders of police witnesses and informers, culminating in the attempt to assassinate Charles Tegart by Gopinath Saha. leading to the mistaken killing of another European.
Soon the ordinance was enacted extending the extraordinary powers of the Regulation III of 1818. It removed rights of Habeas corpus, reintroduced measures of indefinite and arbitrary detentions, and trials by tribunal without jury and without right of appeal. The ordinance was enacted into law in 1925 (as mentioned before) and remained in force for 5 years. Almost One hundred and fifty people were detained under the law, including among the notable detainees Subhas Chandra Bose, later Congress leader. The act was re-enacted in 1930, and later formed a basis for the Burma Criminal Law Amendment in 1931.
The early Indian History books either have given least exposure to certain revolutionaries of late 19th century or early 20th century or simply over looked their patriotic zeal and sacrifices. Consequently, these courageous people died either unsung or in obscurity.
Gopinath Saha (1906-1924), a Bengali freedom fighter associated with the Hindustan Republican Association, on 12 January 1924, attempted to assassinate Charles Tegart, then head of the Detective Department of Calcutta Police. Young Gopinath Saha, of the village Baghanchra, Santipur, Dist. Nadia, West Bengal grew up with patriotic zeal to see India as a free land. Young Saha became an active member of the Hindustan Republican Association founded in Delhi by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Bagat Singh, Chandrasekar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar and others.
Disillusioned with Gandhiji's Satyagrapha and non-violence as a too, the youths considered it as a useless way to rattle the British who had a firm grip on India. The only way to make them understand ''our yearning for freedom was through terrorist activities''. These violent acts would get international attention and other countries would get an impression that there was something 'rotten in the British administration' in India.
Police officer Tegart was closely tracking freedom fighters in Bengal and keeping a check on them so the revolutionaries could not carry on their anti-British activities without getting his attention.
Charles Augustus Tegart, KCIE, KPM (1881 - 1946) a colonial police officer in India was held in great esteem by the British for his efficiency in dealing with criminals with brute and repressive forces. His forte was using various torture methods to extract information from the victims. He was often known to be "ruthless and uncompromising with detainees''. Consequently, he instilled fear among the Bengal freedom fighters.
Above image: Portrait of Irishman Charles Tegart which formerly hung in the office of the Director of the intelligence branch of the Bengal police. A notorious police officer, later he became the police Commissioner of Calcutta. He is said to be an expert in Irish (he served there in 1920) and Bengal terrorism. Nonchalant in the face of danger, it is said, he used to drive around Calcutta in an open car. He was knighted in 1926. He served in Bengal for about 30 years and he was credited with shooting down the popular Bengali revolutionary Jatindranath Mukerjee (Bagha Jatin) in 1915.............
Gopinath Saha underwent torture in Presidency jail, Calcutta where many freedom fighters like Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872 – 1950) underwent imprisonment. Charles Tegart was a menace to the Indian freedom fighters, so, they made a decision to get rid of him. The tough task was given to Saha to finish off Tegart at the right opportunity.
Unfortunately, Saha could make only an abortive attempt, having failed to kill the Police officer as planned before. Instead, he accidentally killed Ernest Day, a white civilian who had gone there on official business. Saha, who never thought an innocent man would get caught in the firing line, was arrested and tried for murder and other anti - British activities. In March 1924, he was hanged to death in the Presidency Jail where other leaders were also hanged to death.
On the 26th of this month January 26, 2025 we are celebrating India's Republic Day. But for great martyrs like Gopinath Saha, Bagat Singh, Chandrasekar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar, Vanchinathan and others who gave their precious lives for Free India we won't be enjoying freedom to day. It is good to remember every patriotic Indian across the land executed by the Colonial British government. Cunning and deceit as they were, when finally finally leaving the shores of India for good after looting more than 45 Trillion USD they had split India into two different nations -Democratic India and Theocratic Pakistan, now referred to as a rogue nation across the globe. It has become a haven for terrorists and Radical Islamists which the common people there did not like it. .
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