Fact Check: Was Bhagat Singh sentenced to death by a Brahmin judge?

Various claims are made about freedom fighter Bhagat Singh on social media sites. Some of them are that the judge who sentenced him to death was a Brahmin and the lawyer fighting the case against Bhagat Singh was also a Brahmin.

A user named Nadeem Need tweeted, “1. This is the Muslim judge Justice Agha Haider who refused to punish Bhagat Singh and resigned. 2. This is the treaty judge Rai Sahib Pandit who sentenced Bhagat Singh to death. Still, those who consider Nathuram Godse to be a patriot, said that Muslims are traitors.”

Another user Bad boy Atif tweeted, “The lawyer who took Bhagat Singh’s case was a Muslim and the British broker fighting the case against Bhagat Singh, Sanghi was a Brahmin #BhagatSingh.

Another Twitter user wrote in the tweet, “The case of “Bhagat Singh” who is fighting the case was a Muslim… and his name was Asif Ali, then who was the traitor lawyer who fought the case on behalf of the British to get Bhagat Singh hanged. The name of that traitor was Rai Bahadur Suryanarayan. Suryanarayan was the founder of #RSS “Friend of Hedgewar and a member of #RSS”

Fact Check: 

There are many things in the above claim made by social media users, which are mixed with each other. Was the judge who sentenced Bhagat Singh to death a Brahmin? To know the veracity of this claim, we searched on Google with the help of some keywords. We got several reports published by different media houses.

On 8 April 1929, Shaheed Bhagat Singh along with his companions threw a bomb in the assembly hall. He was arrested when he raised the slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ for freedom. A case was registered against him by the special tribunal.

In a report published by the website News Track, Justice Agha Haider, a resident of Saharanpur, was the only Indian member of the tribunal. All the judges in the tribunal were British. On 7 October 1930, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were sentenced to death by hanging. Justice Agha Haider refused to sign the decision. Under pressure from the British, Justice Haider resigned from the post of Justice for the sake of the country’s independence.

NewsTrack

It is clear from the fact that it was the British who sentenced Bhagat Singh to death and not Rai Sahib Pandit.

In the book ‘ The Trial of Bhagat Singh ‘ by famous lawyer AG Noorani, ‘The trial started on 7 May 1929 in the court of Additional Magistrate FB Poole. Asaf Ali appeared as the defense counsel, while Rai Bahadur Suraj Narayan appeared as the prosecution counsel. In the court were Bhagat Singh’s guardians, his uncle Ajit Singh’s wife, and Aruna Asaf Ali. When he was brought to the court, Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt started raising slogans of Inquilab Zindabad and Imperialism Murdabad. But there is no evidence of Bahadur Suraj Narayan’s association with the RSS.

conclusion

It is clear from this fact check of DFRAC that the judge who sentenced Bhagat Singh to death was not a Brahmin, but the tribunal which was hearing this case, except Justice Agha Haider, all were Englishmen. Justice Agha resigned refusing to sign the decision of hanging. Bhagat Singh’s case was fought by Asaf Ali and Rai Bahadur Suraj Narain belonged to the prosecution lawyer but there is no evidence of Rai Bahadur Suraj Narayan’s association with the RSS, hence the claim being made by the users is misleading.

Claim: Bhagat Singh was sentenced to death by a Brahmin judge

Claimant: Social media users

Fact Check: Misleading