The Alipore Bomb Trial

THIRTY-THIRD DAY’S PROCEEDINGS 

     Mr. Norton continuing his address on behalf of the Crown said that when their Lordships rose on Tuesday he was dealing with the incident at 134:, Harrison Road. In this connection Counsel read the evidence of Balai Chand Ganguli and Suresh Chandra Ghose and said that there was no conflict between their statements. Balai was in a position to mention Hem Chandra Dass by name to Suresh, and the moment the name was mentioned Suresh had reasons of his own for connecting the name with that of the man who came from Midnapore. Unless Inspector Purna. Chandra Biswas was engaged in a conspiracy to swear away the liberties of innocent men, it was clear that on the 17^th he received a slip from one of the two policemen in consequence of which telegrams were despatched to Poona and Nagpur, and Purna Chandra Biswas himself left on a journey. When Purna Chandra Biswas returned on the 28^th Suresh Chandra Ghose made a report to him with reference to the same incident.

     Mr. Norton then read Hem Chandra Dass' letters from Paris to his wife. In his first letter Hem Chandra said he had taken up the sacred vow of renouncing the world. That, Counsel remarked was absolutely inconsistent with the theory that he went to Paris to study the business of a jeweller. In another letter he advised his wife to read the "Sandhya" and the "Yugantar" and said that unless she read daily she would not be able to understand the connection between current events and events that had gone before. He also referred to Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh and said he had made a good deal of money by selling Lala Lajpat Rai's portrait. Patriotism, remarked Mr. Norton, went hand in hand with pecuniary profits. In another letter Hem Chandra referred to the condition of mother India. That, remarked Mr. Norton, was the condition vividly, but untruly, depicted by the "Yugantar"

     Mr. Norton then said that the case for the Crown was that Hem Chandra Dass went Home not for the innocent purpose of learning how to enlarge photographs or to make jewellery but to learn how to make bombs.

     Mr. Norton said that if the evidence in this case showed that Hem Chandra had gone to Paris in furtherance of the purpose of .

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the conspiracy, to learn how to make bombs in order to make himself a useful member of the conspiracy, then the fact that Hem Chandra joined the conspiracy at a later date did not mitigate his guilt under the law. Mr. Beachcroft had held against Counsel on this point but he submitted that Mr. Beachcroft was wrong on his interpretation of the law. The evidence did not actually connect Hem Chandra with the conspiracy until some time in January. Having reasonable grounds for supposing that Hem Chandra Dass was a member of that conspiracy of which there were active indications before January, they had to see what he did-if he did anything—to qualify himself for that conspiracy. His going to Paris was distinct evidence of his going there to learn how to make the bombs because he went there in pursuance of the teachings of "Yugantar" which was the national organ of this band of assassinating conspirators.

     Mr. Norton next said that Hem Chandra Dass was mentioned in three confessions, namely, the confessions of Barindra Kumar Ghose, Ullaskar Dutt and Upendra Nath Banerjee.      Hem Chandra Dass, said Mr. Norton, had played a most important part in the conspiracy. He was a man of greater age and more considerable experience than the boys and knew very well what he was doing, Throughout he had been an extremely cautious and careful man—and Mr. Norton did not blame him for that—and a man of considerable thought. Hem Chandra had travelled a good deal over the world and had a large grasp of mankind and that made his position even worse than the position of some of the others.

     Mr.. Norton then dealt with the case of Sudhir Kumar Sircar.

     Counsel placed the documentary evidence against Sudhir before their Lordships. These documents consisted of a number of letters written to Sudhir by his brothers asking him to be moderate in Swadeshi. There was a letter addressed to Sudhir at 41, Champatola Lane. This showed that at that time Sudhir was living with the conspirators. Counsel referred to another letter written by Sudhir and found at his father’s house at Khulna in which Sudhir said that he had taken a vow to serve his mother- land. Mr. Norton then referred to several other letters written by Sudhir but none of which were proved by Sudhir’s brother.

     Mr. Norton next referred to a postal M. O. receipt book in which there was an entry of a money order of Re. 1 sent by Sudhir from Seal’s Lodge, Deoghur. The defence suggested that it was put there by some conspirator on behalf of the Crown, probably by Alum. Counsel next handed over two post cards, one said to have been written by Barin and another by Sudhir.

     The Court then rose for the day.

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