This was suppressed by force, including the use of the bayonet by British troops. It lasted about two weeks. After the mutiny, about 45 persons were tried by court martial. In addition, a large number were discharged on administrative grounds. While the participants of the Naval Mutiny were given the freedom fighters' pension, the Jabalpur mutineers got nothing.
They even lost their service pension. Reflecting on the factors that guided the British decision to relinquish the Raj in India, Clement Attlee , the then British prime minister, cited several reasons, the most important of which were the INA activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which weakened the Indian Army - the foundation of the British Empire in India- and the RIN Mutiny that made the British realise that the Indian armed forces could no longer be trusted to prop up the Raj.
Most of the INA. Whether as a measure of the pain that the allies suffered in Imphal and Burma or as an act of vengeance, Mountbatten, Head of Southeast Asia Command, ordered the INA Memorial to its fallen soldiers destroyed when Singapore was recaptured in A Cenotaph has since been erected at the site where the memorial stood.
After the war ended, the story of the INA and the Free India Legion was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings—not just in India, but across its empire—the British Government forbade the BBC from broadcasting their story.
Newspapers reported at the time of the trials that some of the INA soldiers held at Red Fort had been executed, [11] which only succeeded in causing further protests. Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Grant Richard Winters Harry Welsh. Project maintenance. Explore Wikis Community Central. Nobody believed the story that he died in an air crash. A battle had been fought and lost in the jungles of Burma.
But the campaign was not over. It went on in the hearts and minds of the people. Netaji had no military training but could grasp the essentials of strategy and man management with ease. Wisely, he left operational matters to his senior officers.
He wore military uniform, but never did he give himself any military rank. He believed in action and not in speeches, as most other leaders. But he never revealed his spiritual powers to anyone.
Both Wavell and Field Marshall Auchinleck, now C-in-C of the Army in India, were disappointed men: professional soldiers, who had been removed from command due to whims and fancies of Churchill.
It was worse for Wavell, for he had been kicked upstairs and made Viceroy, a post so far held by civilians. Auchinleck firmly believed that a soldier must remain true to his oath, even if the oath of allegiance was to the King of another country and there had been no choice, in any case. Therefore, there had to be trials. Even more than Wavell, Auchinleck was confident that when the evidence of brutality was made public, the sympathy for the INA would evaporate.
The trials were going to be open to public for this reason. People would find it difficult to support murderers and torturers of their own race simply because they remained loyal to their country. Grim and lurid stories of injury and death were constructed from interrogation of defectors and escapees to the Indian Headquarters and broadcast over All India Radio. When the Congress leaders were released on 15 June , the political scenario had undergone a sea change.
They knew nothing about the INA and its daring deeds under the dynamic leadership of Netaji. In reply to a question after his release, Nehru said that he would fight Netaji if he tried leading Indians against India, side by side with the Japanese. On 26 July , Churchill lost the general elections and Clement Attlee became the prime minister. Both Congress leadership and the British were faced with a dilemma. What should be done with Netaji, should he be captured and brought to India?
In the eyes of the masses he stood at par with Gandhiji. If he came back, the Netaji wave would sweep away the Congress leadership. Then came the sudden end to World War II. Japan capitulated on 15 August after two atom bombs had been dropped and on 23 August came the announcement that Netaji had died in an air crash. He was a martyr, who had led an army of freedom fighters.
The Congress leadership were quick to realise the political mileage they would achieve by lionising the INA, at least for the time being. The British were faced with another kind of problem.
In taking the decision to hold courts martials, they forgot that there was a wide gulf in the perceptions between the British and the Indian public. They would be collectively classified as White, Grey and Black. Those, against whom there were doubts regarding their loyalty and morale, were classified as Grey. They were to be watched. If upgraded to White, they would be retained in Service. Dark Greys would be put under surveillance.
Those not upgraded would be discharged. Those who were to be tried were classified as Blacks. They were those who were supposed to have committed military offences. Although Auchinleck was firm on proceeding against the Blacks, the growing public opinion forced him to make a number of mid-course corrections.
On 22 June , C-in-C decided to proceed against triable Blacks. The number was estimated to be Besides these, there were Blacks and Dark Greys to be held in detention. A fortnight later the number of triable Blacks was raised to and further raised to when the whole INA surrendered.
On 11 August , the Secretary of State was informed that approximately would face trials and the rest of the Blacks and Dark Greys would be dismissed. The estimate of probable death sentences was By this time the INA had caught the imagination of the Indian public and the immense publicity was having repercussions on the political climate in India.
Keeping this situation in mind the C-in-C decided on 20 September that death penalty would be imposed only on those Blacks, who were proved guilty of putting countrymen to death or torturing them. On 20 October , he further reduced the trial categories. The trials would not be on the basis of waging war against the King, but on charges of brutalities.
The ranks within brackets are their ranks at the time of capture by the Japanese. This trial was indeed the turning point. The single most important event, which would prove to be a triumph for the INA and disaster for the British. It is from here that the tide turned inexorably against the latter.
The Congress took upon themselves the entire responsibility of arranging the defence of the accused persons. To do this they assembled the greatest ever galaxy of legal luminaries.
It is he who decided that Bhulabhai Desai would defend the three officers in the Court. Tej Bahadur Sapru, the senior defence counsel would make a token appearance and withdraw. Bhulabhai would then take over for no one could match him in court room advocacy. The first trial opened on 5 November After a few adjournments the trial resumed on 7 December Meanwhile on 30 November the Governor General decided to release as quickly as possible the Blacks, who were not to be brought to trial, sensing the growing popular excitement and tumult.
When the trial reopened on 7 December , things went wrong for the Prosecution from the start. Nowhere in the opening address of Sir Naushirwan P Engineer, Advocate General of India and chief counsel for the prosecution or throughout his closing address, was there any convincing substantiation of the charge of torture forthcoming. Bhulabhai Desai asked for evidence. When two officers, Dhargalkar and Badhwar, both of 3 Cavalry were produced as witnesses, it came out that the mistreatment was at the hands of the Japanese and not fellow Indians.
Similarly, much was made of the mistreatment of Durrani of the Bahawalpur Infantry, but it turned out that his case had nothing to do with how men entered the INA, but for suborning the men who had. The tone was set by the first prosecution witness, who did the maximum damage. Under cross examination, he identified some 70 documents and suddenly the INA began to be credible. It came out as a well-organised, efficiently administered and ably led Army. All this was lapped up by the National Dailies.
The stories of the deeds of the INA that came out during the trial were perceived as so inflammatory that the British Government forbade the BBC from broadcasting their story. For the first time light was shed on the reality of the INA. They were not dupes, weaklings, cowards and bullies that the Government had portrayed them to be.
They were just plain fighting soldiers. A string of witnesses narrated their tales of ill treatment, but the curious thing was that they had nothing to do with the three accused officers on trial. Bhulabhai Desai charged that this was done to create a prejudice against honourable men.
He decided against calling more than 11 witnesses, because the 28 prosecution witnesses had made statements, which supported his case equally well. He remembered Shah Nawaz telling his men that if they saw a Japanese soldier mistreating Indian women, he would be told to stop.
If he did not, they were at liberty to use force to stop him and even shoot him, if necessary. This is not what prosecution wanted him to say, but once on the stand, he could not be silenced. A Cenotaph has since been erected at the site where the memorial once stood. After the war ended, the story of the INA and the Free India Legion was seen as so inflammatory that, fearing mass revolts and uprisings — not just in India, but across its empire — the British government forbade the BBC from broadcasting their story.
Newspapers reported at the time of the trials that some of the INA soldiers held at Red Fort had been executed, [11] which only succeeded in causing further protests. Its aim was to secure Indian independence from British rule. It was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose after his arrival in Southeast Asia in There was also an all-women regiment named after Rani of Jhanshi, Lakshmibai. Under Bose's leadership, the INA drew ex-prisoners and thousands of civilian volunteers from the Indian expatriate population in Malaya and Burma.
Lakshmi is commonly referred to in India as Captain Lakshmi , a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War. During the Second World War — , India was controlled by the United Kingdom, with the British holding territories in India that included over six hundred autonomous Princely States.
British India officially declared war on Nazi Germany in September The British Raj, as part of the Allied Nations, sent over two and a half million soldiers to fight under British command against the Axis powers. It was created in October and supported by — as well as largely dependent on — the Empire of Japan.
Intended to serve as a liberation force for British-ruled India, it was made up of Indian prisoners of war and expatriates in Europe. Due to its origins in the Indian independence movement, it was known also as the "Tiger Legion", and the "Azad Hind Fauj".
After the war, he was tried, convicted for treason, and sentenced to death in a public court-martial carried out by the Indian Army. The sentence was commuted by the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Army following unrest and protests in India.
After the trial, Khan declared that he would henceforth follow the path of non-violence espoused by Mahatama Gandhi and he joined the Congress party. Having successfully contested the first Lok Sabha in from Meerut, Khan had an illustrious parliamentary career. He was elected four times to the Lok Sabha from Meerut constituency in , , and He lost in the and Lok Sabha election from Meerut.
After becoming a Japanese prisoner of war, he served as an officer in the Indian National Army, which was led by Subhas Chandra Bose and had been set up by the Japanese ostensibly to fight against British rule in India.
The Rani of Jhansi Regiment was the women's regiment of the Indian National Army, the armed force formed by Indian nationalists in in Southeast Asia with the aim of overthrowing the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance.
It was one of the few all-female combat regiments of the Second World War on all sides. Led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan, the unit was raised in July with volunteers from the expatriate Indian population in Southeast Asia. It was formed with Japanese aid and support after the Fall of Singapore and consisted of approximately 12, of the 40, Indian prisoners of war who were captured either during the Malayan campaign or surrendered at Singapore and was led by Rash Behari Bose.
It was formally proclaimed in April and declared the subordinate military wing of the Indian Independence League in June that year. The conditions in the Japanese prisoner of war camps were notorious and led some of the troops deserting, when offered release by their captors, and forming a nationalist army. It was formally proclaimed in September and declared the subordinate military wing of the Indian Independence League in June that year.
The arrival of Subhas Bose in June saw the revival and reorganization of the unit as the army of the Azad Hind government that was formed in October In Nov , Azad Hind had been given a limited form of governmental jurisdiction over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had been captured by the Japanese navy early on in the war.
In the early part of , INA forces were in action along with the Japanese forces in Imphal and Kohima area against Commonwealth forces, and later fell back with the retreating Japanese forces after the failed campaign. Most of the INA troops were captured, defected or fell otherwise into British hands during the Burma campaign by end of March that year and by the time Rangoon fell in May , the INA had more or less ceased to exist although some activities continued until Singapore was recaptured.
The prisoners would potentially face the death penalty, life imprisonment or a fine as punishment if found guilty. These did not receive any publicity or political sympathies and support till much later.
However, the number of INA troops captured by Commonwealth forces by the end of the Burma Campaign made it necessary to take a selective policy to charge those accused of the worst allegations. The decision was made to hold a public trial, as opposed to the earlier trials, and given the political importance and significance of the trials, the decision was made to hold these at the Red Fort.
Also, due to the complexity of the case, the provision was made under the Indian Army Act rule 82 a for counsels to appear for defense and prosecution. The Indian National Congress made the release of the three defendants an important political issue during the agitation for independence of Additional responsibilities of the committee also came to be the co-ordination of information on INA troops held captive, as well as arranging for relief for troops after the war.
Engineer as the chief prosecutor and two dozen counsel for the defence, led by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. In addition, charges of murder were levelled against Dhillon and of abetment to murder against Khan and Sahgal.
The defendants came from three different religions — one Hindu, one Sikh, and one Muslim — but all three elected to be defended by the defense committee set up by the Indian National Congress.
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