Nathuram Godse Part - 1 (Event and Accused)

Event and Accused
Explosion

An explosion occurred near the compound wall of Birla House, New Delhi, the capital of India, on the evening of January 20, 1948. It was of a non-cotton slab. It damaged the wall.
Gandhiji was staying at Birla House in Delhi then he had his prayer meetings on the lawn there. There atmosphere in Delhi and other parts of the country was charged in those days and feelings were tense. This was due to the vivisection of Hindustan a few months before.
'Sthan' stands for 'Land'. A part of Hindustan was carved out to create a theocratic Moslem independent State, 'Pakistan' (meaning holy land). The rest of Hindustan which became simultaneously independent from the British yoke was renamed Bharat.'
The Indian National Congress was a party to the fore in politics. The leaders of the Congress then had a fancy for Hindu-Moslem unity and secularism. Contrary to their urge and call for the principles, they .agreed to recognize a theocratic Moslem State on the Hindu land. It was the leaders defeat and the defeat of their principles. They were hypocrites and brazen enough to impose dictatorially their principles on the Hindus. To camouflage the defeat, they did not recognize Hindus to be a Nation but considered them to be only a sect. They enforced secularism in their ,own style on India.
The word India' is in fact a perverted form of `Hindustan' adopted by the British. `Bharat' too is an ancient name of Hindustan and connotes complete undivided India. But the leaders thought of avoiding ,any name for the country that might indicate predominance of the Hindus and offend Moslems in Hindustan. Thus, in practice, secularism meant appeasement of the Moslems.
The pangs of partition brought in its trail mass- killings, rape, violence and exodus on-masse which became the order of the day.
Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma, a great soul, had played a prominent role in politics. Hindus affected ' by partition and those who shared universal brotherhood with them' were enraged against him. Police were posted at Birla House to protect him from ,any possible assault.
The explosion on January 20, 1948 was not aimed at Gandhi. It was almost a hundred and fifty feet away from the dais where he sat. It was however, revealed later, by the police that the explosion was a part of the plan to bump Gandhi off.
Madanlal Pahwa was apprehended on spot on the day. He was one of the Hindu sufferers of partition. 'The police got information that Madanlal had other accomplices in the plot, that the plan did not work and that his co-conspirators had fled. The police spread a net all over India, to apprehend others. As a consequence, the Government reinforced the police force and security measures were tightened at Birla House.
The police could hardly make any progress in apprehending others within the next ten days. All of a sudden, on January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot point blank in the evening at 5.00 P.M. by Nathuram Godse while the former was on his way to the dais for the prayer meeting. Gandhi, with almost feeble or faint `ah', possibly as a reflex action and shock, fell to the ground. He went unconscious instantaneously and breathed his last some twenty minutes later.
Nathuram Godse after firing shots raised his hand with the gun and called for the police. He was apprehended.
Nathuram was one of the persons the police had been looking for in connection with the explosion that took place earlier on January 20, 1948.
Investigations were confined mainly to Bombay, Delhi and Gwalior.
Red Fort
A Special Court was constituted to conduct the trial. Shri Atma Charan Agrawal, I. C. S. was appointed as the Judge.
The venue of the court was the memorable Red Port, Delhi. This was to be the third historical trial to be witnessed here. The first was of Bahadur Shah Jafar and other accused. They were among those who waged War of Independence against the British in 1857. The second was in 1945. The officers of the Indian National Army commanded by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose were charged with revolt against the British rule during the Second World War. The third was to be for Gandhi murder.
A row of cells in one of the walls of the fort was turned into a jail for the accused.
Twelve persons were accused or. different charges. Three of them were absconding. The nine produced before Shri Atma Charan on May 27. 1948 and onward were (1) Nathuram Vinayak Godse, 37, Pune, (2) Narayan Dattatraya Apte, 34, Pune, (3) Vishnu Ramkrishna Karkare, 37, Ahmednagar, (4) Madanlal K. Pahwa, 20, Bombay (originally from Dist. Montgomery, Pakistan) (5) Shankar Kistaiya, 20, Solapur, (6) Gopal Vinayak Godse, 27, Pune, (7) Digambar Ramchandra Badge, 40, Pune, (8) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, 66, Bombay, and (9) Dattatraya Sadashiv Parchure, 47. Gwalior.
The three absconding persons were (1) Gangadhar Dandavate, (2) Gangadhar Jadhao, and (3) Suryadeo Sharma, all from Gwalior.

Accused

Accused No. 7. Digambar Badge turned approver. V. D. Savarkar then got No. 7 in the serial. Savarkar had a glorious selfless background as a fiery revolutionary. The history of Independence of India cannot be complete without a reference to him. He had plunged into the freedom movement right from his teens. To achieve independence is a pious duty' was his motto. 'The British rule over India is an unnatural yoke and unjustifiable and any means to remove it from India's neck are justifiable' was his preaching. He fired the imagination of the Indian youth with the philosophy of Joseph Mazzini, the stalwart of the Italian Liberation Movement. Savarker was the pioneer who for the first time advocated that the rise of 1857 was not a mere mutiny of the sepoys as dubbed by the British, but it was a War of Independence.
Savarkar was accused of sedition and sentenced to transportation for life twice, the sentences, queerly enough, to run consecutively. It was in 1910. He was free only in 1937, from any restrictions imposed on him.
By this time the Congress under the leadership of Gandhi had made considerable headway towards appeasement of the Moslems.
Savarkar was bestowed upon the title of Swatantrya Veer, the Stalwart of Independence, by the people. He re-entered politics and headed the Hindu Mahasabha, a political organization for independence with a just place of honor and dignity to the Hindus.
He insisted on freedom of the country without its vivisection, and advised people to refrain from Moslem appeasement policy to avoid partition. He encouraged Hindus to join army, though under the British, since he regarded it as a rare opportunity to handle arms and advised the youth to be prepared to use the arms for the sake of freedom when time came. The revolutionary favor of Veer Savarkar was the source of inspiration for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. It is a little known fact that they had met for confabulations to chalk out the course of armed action that Netaji was to take later for throwing off the British yoke. Rash Bihari Basu, a revolutionary in exile in Japan and the Hindu Sabha President there, was their common link. It is also a little known fact that Veer Savarkar was in correspondence with his comrade Rash Bihari Basu while the latter was abroad.
Savarkar had forewarned years' before the actual partition that the leading party i.e. the Indian National Congress would deceive the people and vivisect India to appease Moslems, and then it would also appease Moslem sentiments in the rest of India. If would be at the cost of legitimate rights of the. Hindus.
There was a perpetual tussle between the apposing schools of thought. Gandhi and the Congress condemned the revolutionaries as of violent cult'. Gandhi spoke of purity of means and methods to be adopted for freeing the country from British domination. The differences of approach were aired while Lokmanya Tilak was still living. Gandhi had his own view of: looking at the Geeta. It differed from that of Tilak. Tilak did not see violence in good cause as incompatible with renunciation. Like Aurobindo, Tilak equated, the nation with religion (Dharma). Gandhi ardently thought that non-violence or Ahimsa was an essential precondition of a person striving for attaining `Anasakti' or unattached action.
Tilak and Savarkar held identical views. In fact Savarkar would go a step ahead of Tilak. Savarkar's guideline also was the `core' of the wisdom of the. ancients but only to the extent it suited the need of the time. One should not tie down oneself to the text of the script but one should rise above it in the context of the changing times, was his view. What is relevant should be accepted and implemented but whatever hinders the progress of mankind today, is outdated and should be discarded, he advised. For him freedom of Hindustan was the first duty and top priority. He made people adore the noble sacrifices and spirit of martyrdom of the revolutionaries, which superficially appeared like acts of violence. Gandhi had more than once set his face against the revolutionaries and their cult of violence' for the cause of freedom.
Savarkar stood for certain national ethics. In the interest of the nation he logically condemned the policy of Moslem appeasement of Gandhi and the Congress. It was easy for the prosecution, guided by the Congress Government, to book Savarkar for the murder. The prosecution could cash on flagrant distortion of the ethics when he was directly implicated, rather than deal on abstract concepts for which he stood.
The other accused in the case were the hardcore opposed to partition and dictatorial practice of making the people swallow the pernicious logic. The accused, who were staunch followers of Veer Savarkar, never for a moment denied the fact nor ,did Veer Savarkar deny that the conspirators were his adherents. This also enabled the prosecution to build its story on some flimsy imaginary third rate hearsay evidence to plead that the murder of the Mahatma was committed with Savarkar's blessings.
It was indeed an irony of fate. Those who were responsible for the ruin and massacre of lakhs of people by vivisecting the country and should have been in the dock for the anti-people crimes, now in power, had put the noble patriot in the dock.
Accused No. 2, Narayan Apte was B. Sc., B. T. He was a very popular teacher. He conducted private classes as well. He stayed at Ahmednagar, a District place, 70 miles off Pune, where Karkare, accused No. 3, was residing. They both came in touch with each other in their activities of common interest,- the Hindu Sanghatan-organising the Hindus. Apte had started a rifle club to train the youth in the use of fire arms.
It was later in 1944 that Apte and Nathuram jointly launched Hindu Rashtra' a Marathi daily from Pune for propagating the cause of Hindu Sanghatan. 'The last issue of the daily on January 31, 1948 carried the news of Gandhi's assassination and mentioned the name of the assassin, Nathuram Godse, who was the Editor.
Apte and Nathuram Godse worked together for 5 to 6 years under the banner of the Hindu Maha Sabha. Apte was present on January, 20 and 30, 1948 on the spot at Delhi. The prosecution described him as brain behind the conspiracy'. Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were destined to die hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, with 'Vande Mataram' on their lips for the cause of national integrity they held dearer than their life.
Apte was handsome. He was married and had a male issue. The child expired when twelve. It was after Apte's execution.
Vshnu Karkare had a lodging and boarding house at Ahmednagar. He was an active political worker. When Noakhali in Bengal (now in Bangla Dash) had become the slaughter house of the Hindus there, Karkare, with a batch of ten had gone there to mobilize the Hindus and adopt a militant posture in their defense. He had raised a number of shelter camps under the Hindu Maha Sabha banner. This was in 1946-47. He was present on the spot on January 20 and 30 at Delhi.
Karkare was married but had no issue.
Madanlal, who had exploded the gun-cotton slab, was a refugee. He was a witness to the awful events of massacre, loot and arson. Caravans, miles together in length and comprising lakhs of humans driven out of their hearth and home, were on their way to truncated India. Madanlal has narrated his poignant sufferings in his statement before the Court.
He was unmarried then.
Shankar Kistaiya, accused No. 5 was unmarried. He served Digambar Badge, the approver. He was in Delhi on the spot on January 20, 1948.
Gopal Godse is a brother of Nathuram Godse. He was accused No. 6 in the case. He served in the Ordnance Department. He had gone overseas in the Second World War and on return he was posted in Khadaki Depot near Pune. He was charged with conspiracy as he was present at the Birla House on January 20. He was married and had two daughters.
Digambar Badge a Hindu Sanghatanist, was a dealer in arms. He held a conviction that Hindus should be armed in the pockets in which they were in minority and be able to retaliate in case of attack from the Moslems. The prosecution claimed that it was Badge who had supplied the gun-cotton slab ignited by Madanlal. A hand grenade too was recovered from Madanlal. Some more ammunition was recovered from Badge. He was present on the spot on January 20 at Delhi.
Accused No. 8, D. S. Parchure, was a Doctor. He practised at Gwalior. He was an able Hindu organizer. He met attacks by the Moslems by counter-attacks. He was involved on the charge that Nathuram obtained the pistol from him. A confession was extracted from him under pressure. He was married and stayed in his own house with his family.

Hearing

The accused had engaged counsels. However, replies to the charges were to be given by the accused themselves, which they did. Before doing so, they submitted their written statements.

Nathuram, in his written statement, Detailed, particularly from Part II onward, the reasons of his decision to kill Gandhi. The prosecution had the knowledge of it before-hand. It raised an objection to the reading, which was over-ruled by the Judge.
The statement was read out. The press published portions of it the next day.
But the Government would not take it lying down. It would not yield to the supremacy of the judiciary. With the stranglehold of authority it banned the statement for its reproduction or publication in part or in full.
The motive on the part of the Government was obvious. It did not like Gandhi to be exposed to the public by what Nathuram Godse had stated. It wanted to permit atmosphere of prejudice against the assession to continue and suppress the truth, probably, in its own fashion of thinking, as a befitting reverence to the memory of the Mahatma.
The Government's action remained unchallenged and the ban continued for years till the law was annulled. It is after a lapse of about three decades that the statement reaches the public.
Nathuram preferred to argue his own case. He argued for two days without challenging his conviction under the murder charge. The Press had no free choice to publish the proceedings in their true form.

Judgment

e prosecution produced 149 witnesses. The hearing was closed on December 30, 1948 and judgment reserved. It was pronounced on February 10, 1949.

Veer Savarkar was acquitted.

Digamber Badge was granted pardon and set free for having deposed against his co-accused.

Vishnu Karkare, Madanlal Pahwa, Gopal Godse, Shankar Kistaiya and Dr. Parchure were to suffer, inter alia, transportation for life.
Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to be hanged.

No sooner the sentences were announced the packed Courtroom echoed to the thundering of spontaneous slogans from the convicts, `AKHAND BHARAT AMAR RAHE !', `VANDE MATARAM !' and `SWATANTRYA LAXMI KI JAI !'

Nature of the Special Act
Gandhi enjoyed supremacy in the otherwise democratic set- up of Government. A Special Act, viz, Bombay Public Security Measures Act, was extended to Delhi before constituting the Special Court and the Act came into force with retrospective effect for the trial of the accused.
Equality before law and other inalienable rights were denied to the people through the provisions of this Act. The Supreme Court of India was not constituted then. Since retrospective effect was not provided to the annulment, the convicts were deprived of the benefits.
Unlike in other cases under the normal law, death sentence was not required to be confirmed by the High Court in conformity with the Special Act. The time limit to prefer appeals was only fifteen days instead of sixty or ninety days in normal cases.

Appeals
All the seven convicts submitted appeals through the jail authorities to the Punjab High Court. Formerly the High Court functioned at Lahore. But Lahore, the City said to have been established by Lava, one of the mighty sons of Lord Rama, and the city then known as Lavapur, was now by a strange travesty of fate, in Pakistan and a part and parcel of the Country The High Court had become a `refugee' and had its seat at Simla in the vivisected India.

Nathu preferred appeal against his conviction for conspiracy and other charges and not against the death sentence. He prayed for permission for arguing his own case and it was granted. By that time all the convicts in the case were transferred from the Special Jail, Red Fort, Delhi to Ambala Jail. Nathuram was taken to Simla where he was lodged in a special jail. Other convicts were represented by their counsels.

Justice Bhandari, Achhru Ram and Khosla J.J. heard the appeals in May and June 1949. They pronounced their judgment on June 22, 1949. They, found Shankar Kistaiya and Dr. Parchure not guilty and acquitted them.

The sentences of Vishnu Karkare, Gopal Godse and Madanlal Pahwa were confirmed.

The Judges also, confirmed the death sentence of Narayan Apte. Nathuram's death penalty was automatically confirmed.

Assassins' profile

It is obvious that the High Court was struck by the conduct and ability of Nathuram. It has made a special reference to it while recording the judgment. Says Justice Achhru Ram :

"Of all the appellants Nathuram V. Godse has not challenged his conviction under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, nor has he appealed from the sentence of death passed on him in respect of the offence. He has confined his appeal and also his arguments at the Bar only to the other charges which have been found proved against him...... He personally argued his appeal, I must say, with conspicuous ability evidencing a mastery of facts which would have done credit to any counsel."

As regards Nathuram's power of thinking, the Judge noted:

"Although he failed in his matriculation examination, he is widely read. While arguing his Appeal, he showed a fair knowledge of the English language a rid a remarkable capacity for clear thinking."

In the course of arguments, Nathuram had made a plea that on January 20, 1948 he was not present at the Birla House. The judges rejected the plea. In support of their rejection, they referred to their observations of the strong will power of Nathuram, Shri Achhru Ram says :
"We have seen quite enough of Nathuram during the period of more than five weeks we were hearing' these appeals and particularly during the eight or nine days while he was arguing his own case, and I cannot imagine that a man of his caliber could have even entertained the idea (of remaining behind)."

NOT guilty
Justice Khosla after retirement. in a pen picture of the Court scene as it then passed before his mind's eye has said:

The highlight of the appeal before us was the discourse delivered by Nathuram Godse in his defense. He spoke for several hour' s, discussing,, in the first instance, the facts of the case and then the motive which had prompted him to take Mahatma Gandhi's life ......

"The audience was visibly and audibly moved. There was a deep silence when he ceased speaking. Many women were in tears and men coughing and searching for their handkerchiefs. The silence was accentuated and made deeper by the sound of an occasional subdued sniff or a muffled cough...
"I have however, no doubt that had the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse's appeal, they would have brought in a verdict of `not guilty' by an overwhelming majority."

Nathuram had displayed the same ability while arguing his case before Shri Atma Charan, the Judge of the Special Court, Red Fort, Delhi.

Absconding accused

The fate of the absconding accused hinged on Dr. Parchure's conviction or acquittal. On Dr.Parchure's acquittal the three appeared before a Magistrate in Gwalior. They were set free.

`Emergency' then

The Press was muzzled in respect of Nathuram's arguments in the High Court as well. His exciting plea made with an impassioned appeal and delivered with rare poise naturally interested the Press, and the correspondents took it down verbatim. But as soon as the Judges returned to their chamber, the police pounced on the correspondents and snatched their note books. They did not stop at that.

They tore down the note books into pieces and warned the pressmen of severe consequences if they published the true account of Nathuram's speech. The Press was forced to toe the Government's instructions and accordingly disjointed and distorted reports were carried by newspapers.

Some papers did write articles evaluating the event in its proper perspective. h was after the ,death penalty was executed. The papers were subjected to heavy security and harassment. Instead of having love for the truth, Government was allergic to it. Since it called itself a Gandhian Government the contrast was glaring.

Execution

Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were executed in Ambala jail at 8 A. M. on Tuesday, November 15, 1949 i.e. after twenty one and a half months of the shooting incident. Several versions, some of them quite distorted, have been put out and published about their conduct. The writer along with Karkare and Madanlal was with the condemned prisoners till twenty minutes before the execution. Both of them looked composed, steady and with their wits about them. They did not seem to need any special efforts to maintain that composure. Their faces looked calm and peaceful. They talked and chitchatted. They talked among themselves, with the Jail staff, and with us.

We had tea and coffee. When the tray of coffee was brought by the sepoy, Nathuram just looked at the Superintendent Shri Arjun Das who was standing by, and smiled.

Shri Arjun Das was not in mood to smile back. He was going to kill both these condemned convicts a few minutes later. He took it to be a misfortune for him.

He had developed friendship with the two. He sat and talked with them for hours. He had political understanding of the events. He knew the feelings of national integrity of the two. Otherwise, he thought, why should these persons from Maharashtra get upset when Punjab, a province over a thousand miles away, war torn? Why should they feel sorry for the persons uprooted there and plunge themselves into fire ?

The Superintendent had seen bloodshed in the wake of India's freedom. He cursed the hypocrites who uttered now and then of having got independence without shedding a drop of blood ! On whose account is this bloodshed of Punjab to be debited? He thought.

The Superintendent was going to add to the bloodshed in cold blood !

We saw the Superintendent push back his tears behind his sighs. How could he smile back at Nathuram ?

Yet he felt, it might be the last with of the condemned convict. Why not please him ? He, forced a smile on his face and looked inquisitively at Nathuram.

"Do you remember, Shreemanji," said Nathuram. "I had told you once, `I don't mind the gallows, but I must have a cup of coffee before the swing'! That cup is here I Thank you very much !"

Shri Arjun Das did not sob !

Nathuram then turned to the Doctor. He said, "Dr. Chhabda, I have left your book with Shri Trilok Singh, Assistant Superintendent, with my autograph on it. I hope you don't need any more signatures !"

Nathuram talked with the same ease with which he had talked to his maternal uncle the previous day. He had said, "Mama, I have arranged for the. return of your thousand rupees."

Narayan Apte reminded the Superintendent of the dispatch of his thesis. Apte had written during the last ten days a thesis on the Administration set-up.'

The superintendent had sent it to Government. But Government has not, so far, passed it on either to Apte's wife or to his brothers.

The Magistrate of the District, Shri Narottam Sahgal who was present there ascertained if the two had a passport to the unknown and if so whether it was valid.

The two started for their journey beyond life. They had carried with them in their hands the Bhagwat Geeta, a map of undivided Hindustan and a Saffron flag.

The platform wins situated behind the condemned yard.' The beam could accommodate three at a time.

On the way, Apte seemed enjoying the morning sun in the midst ' of winter. He had experienced it after a long lapse.

He exclaimed, "What is pleasant sun shine Pandit !" He used to call Nathuram `Pandit' on occasions.

Nathuram said, "You are seeing it after a long time. In Simla it is usual."

"indeed it is heavenly:"

"Bestowed on us by our Motherland at this heavenly juncture !" endorsed Nathuram.

On reaching the platform they recited a verse of devotion to the Motherland.

Obeisance to thee ever, O Sacred Mother ! In the lap of Hindu Land have I been nurtured by thee in happiness.

Greatly auspicious, Oh Sacred land,

For thy sake I lay down my life!

Obeisance to thee. Obeisance to thee.

Their hands were tied at the back. The hangman put the noose around their necks and left the surplus rope on their shoulders. He also tied tied together with a cord the toes of each.

Nathuram and Narayan shouted slogans which reverberated over the radius of a hundred feet in the silent atmosphere around.

`Akhand Bharat Amar Rahe !'

`Vande Mataram.'

The Superintendent gave the green signal to the hangman. The hangman in turn Pulled the lever. The bridge grove way.

Nature embraced the two in gravitation and gave their souls a lift in her invisible chariot to the unknown.

The operation was over with the drop of the rope but without any drop of blood .

Nathuram's death was instantaneous. Narayan's knees once tried to reach his chin. He shook in that unconscious state for a couple of minutes and then life was completely extinct.

The Assistant Superintendent Shri Ram Nath Sharma performed the last rites before the bodies were cremated.

The articles carried by the two in their hands were passed on to the writer.

The cremation was carried out within the Jail.

Nathuram's will (reproduced at the end of this book) was passed on to Dattatraya, his younger brother the next day.

Life convicts

The Government accorded unusually harsh and cruel treatment to the three life convicts, particularly, in respect of their release. It took shelter behind the' term transportation for life. It did not transport them anywhere to allow them free life. It was for its own convenience and not at the request of the convicts. On the other hand, for its own pleasure it had an evil eye on the life of the three by keeping them imprisoned till they died.

Remission in sentence is granted to a convict. under rigorous imprisonment commensurate to his. work and conduct as a prisoner. A life convict is termed as a prisoner under rigorous imprisonment. The remission so granted is meant for consequent shortening of the convict's sentence to that extent.

Besides doing all what was expected from him, the writer, while under life sentence donated blood, whenever there was a call. Government grants ten day's remission on this score each time. it recorded, it in his case but never gave effect to it. It was like the Secretariat's dishonoring a valid demand draft of the Reserve Bank. The Government wanted from the writer his death date so that it could give effect to the remissions to his credit.

There were unending. postponements of consideration of his release.

Those at the helm of the Government must have acted with a conviction that through such deceitful tricks, they were accomplishing nonviolent deaths of the convicts, who staked their lives for undivided Hindustan, and thereby were serving the cause of nonviolence. They must have had a notion that they, followers of Gandhiji, would please the departed soul with such deaths. Otherwise cheap tricks like asking for blood donation beyond the scope of the rules, granting remission for it, and then usurping the donated blood and also the remission of the convict in Gandhi murder case, cannot be reasoned out.

When the writer found out that he had been tricked by the cheats who were physically powerful he donated blood but without accepting their so-called generosity of remission. He respected the call of the Nation, but never the persons who taught honesty to others, but who themselves were devoid of simple honesty. When some such persons go to Raj Ghat, pay homage to Gandhiji and repeat the vow of abiding by Truth and Nonviolence, the writer feels that there i., an everlasting field in our country to be fool the public.

The author moved the Supreme Court of India twenty-two times on the issue of his release. He could not prove corruption and dishonest intention on the part of Government. It claimed absolute prowess over convicts under its disfavor and wished to keep them confined vindictively till death overtook them.

One of his petitions was pending and Government was served with a notice. He and the other two in the case were released in the mean time on October 13, 1964. All of them by then had completed over twenty six years inclusive of remission. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had expired a few month before.

Although the author could not secure any judgment by the Supreme Court in his favor, it is true that but for the existence of the Supreme Court the Government would never have cared to release him and his co-accused.

Life after release

Shri Vishnu Karkare and the writer attended a reception organized by their friends and well-wishers to celebrate their release after seventeen years of incarceration. The Government resented the reception. Detention Act was invoked to put both of them behind the bars again within forty days of their release.

They were not charged with any offence. The High Court had no jurisdiction to go behind the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority. The renewed harassment lasted for over a year and six days.

The writer has since taken to writing. His first book in Marathi on the episode is titled 'Gandhi Hatya Ani Mee.

Besides other subjects it exposes Government for its falsehood. The Government, therefore, `imprisoned' the book this time !

The High Court lifted the ban and decreed the Government for Rs. 3000/- towards legal expenses the book has since been reprinted and translated in other regional languages.

The writer has written some other books as well. The statement of Nathuram Godse has already been published in regional languages by him.

He is the proprietor of. the publishing institute Vitasta Prakashan. Vitasta is the Vaidic name of the river Jhelum (running through Kashmir.) He stays at Pune with his family.

Vishnu Karkare continued his business at Ahmednagar till he expired of heart attack on April 6, 1974. His wife looks after the business.

Madanlal Pahwa who married after his release manages purchase and sale for some paper mills in Bombay.

Veer Savarkar expired in Bombay on February 26, 1966, ironically, after he suffered the rigors of sentences and detention both during the British Rule and also when India was free. His fault : He urged for just rights for the Hindus and opposed vivisection of India.

Authenticity

The statement in the following pages is a part of record of the Mahatma Gandhi Murder Case, which can be found in Printed Volume II, Criminal Appeals No. 66 to 72 of 1949 Punjab High Court, (then at) Simla.

Courtesy of Shri Gopal Godse