''Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others'', colloquially referred to as the Alipore Bomb Case, the Muraripukur conspiracy, or the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy, was a

criminal case Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

held in India in 1908. The case saw the trial of a number of Indian nationalists of the

Anushilan Samiti Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

, under charges of "Waging war against the Government" of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. The trial was held at Alipore Sessions Court, Calcutta, between May 1908 and May 1909. The trial followed in the wake of the attempt on the life of Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford in Muzaffarpur by Bengali nationalists

Khudiram Bose Khudiram Bose (also spelled ''Khudiram Basu'') (3 December 1889 – 11 August 1908) was an Indian revolutionary from Bengal Presidency who opposed British rule of India. For his role in the Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case, along with Prafulla ...

and Prafulla Chaki in April 1908, which was recognised by the Bengal police as linked to attacks against the Raj in the preceding years, including attempts to derail the train carrying Lieutenant-Governor Sir Andrew Fraser in December 1907. Among the famous accused were Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother

Barin Ghosh Barindra Kumar Ghosh or Barindra Ghosh, or, popularly, Barin Ghosh (5 January 1880 – 18 April 1959) was an Indian revolutionary and journalist. He was one of the founding members of Jugantar Bengali weekly, a revolutionary outfit in Bengal. ...

as well as 38 other Bengali nationalists of the ''

''. Most of the accused were arrested from Barin Ghosh's Garden house in 36 Murarirupukur Road, in the Manicktolla suburb of Calcutta. They were held in the Presidency Jail in Alipore before the trial, where Narendranath Goswami, approver and crown-witness, was shot dead by two fellow accused

Kanailal Dutta Kanailal Dutta ( bn, কানাইলাল দত্ত) (30 August 1888 – 10 November 1908) was a revolutionary in India's freedom struggle belonging to the Jugantar group. He was born in Chandannagar, West Bengal. He, along with Satyend ...

and Satyendranath Bose within the jail premises. Goswami's murder led to collapse of the case against

Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined th ...

. However, his brother Barin and a number of others were convicted of the charges and faced varying jail terms from life-imprisonment to shorter jail terms. Aurobindo Ghosh retired from active nationalist politics after serving a prison sentence awarded in the trial, beginning his journey into spirituality and philosophy that he described as having started with revelations that occurred to him during his incarceration. He later moved to

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

, establishing an ''Ashram''. For ''Anushilan Samiti'', the incarceration of many of its prominent leaders led to a decline in the influence and activity of the Manicktolla branch, and its activities were overtaken by what emerged to be called the ''Jugantar'' branch under the leadership of

Bagha Jatin Bagha Jatin (; ) or Baghajatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee (); 7 December 1879 – 10 September 1915) was an Indian independence activist. He was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary i ...

Background

Anushilan samiti

File:Young India; an interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from within (1916) (14802200463).jpg, Aurobindo Ghosh File:Barindra Kumar Ghosh 01.jpg,

Barindra Kumar Ghosh Barindra Kumar Ghosh or Barindra Ghosh, or, popularly, Barin Ghosh (5 January 1880 – 18 April 1959) was an Indian revolutionary and journalist. He was one of the founding members of Jugantar Bengali weekly, a revolutionary outfit in Bengal. ...

Political consciousness and opposition to

British raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

in Bengal had grown steadily over the last decades of the 1800s. By 1902, Calcutta had three secret societies working toward the violent overthrow of British rule in India. These included the '' Anushilan Samity'', founded by a Calcutta student named Satish Chandra Basu with the patronage of the Calcutta barrister

Pramatha Mitra Pramathanath Mitra ( bn, প্রমথনাথ মিত্র; 30 October 1853 – 1910), known widely as P. Mitra, was a Bengali Indian barrister and Indian nationalist who was among the earliest founding members of the Indian revolutiona ...

, another led by a Bengalee lady by the name of

Sarala Devi Chaudhurani Sarala Devi Chaudhurani (born Sarala Ghosal; 9 September 1872 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian educationist and political activist, who founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad in 1910. This was the first national-level women's organizat ...

, and a third one founded by Aurobindo Ghosh. Ghosh was one of the strongest proponents of militant nationalism at the time. The militant nationalists thought of more direct and violent ways of ending British rule in India ... The chief apostle of militant nationalism in Bengal was Aurobindo Ghose. In 1902, there were three secret societies in Calcutta - Anushilan Samiti, founded by Pramatha Mitra, a barrister of the High Court of Calcutta; a society sponsored by Aurobindo Ghosh and a society started by Sarala Devi. Having forsaken a potential career in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

, Ghosh had returned to India and taken up an academic post under the patronage of the Maharaja of

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

. Here he came to develop a close relationship with Indian Maratha nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and through him the nationalist network in Maharashtra. Inspired by the histories of Italian and Irish nationalism, Aurobindo began preparing the grounds and network for an Indian nationalist revolution, in which he found support in Tilak. Aurobindo sought for source of military training to prepare for a revolution in the future. His younger brother Barin joined Aurobindo in Baroda. Baroda offered Barin to obtain training in military strategies and armed conflicts. In 1903, Aurobindo Ghosh sent his younger brother

to Calcutta to rally the nascent organisation. By 1905, the controversial

1905 partition of Bengal The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western are ...

had a widespread political impact: it stimulated radical nationalist sentiments in the ''

Bhadralok Bhadralok (, literally 'gentleman', or 'well-mannered person') is Bengali for the new class of 'gentlefolk' who arose during British rule in India in the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. Caste and class makeup Accord ...

'' community in Bengal, and helped ''Anushilan'' acquire a support base among of educated, politically conscious and disaffected young in local youth societies throughout Bengal. The works of Aurobindo and his brother

allowed ''Anushilan Samity'' to spread through Bengal. ''Anushilan'' began a program of slowly building a support base, preparing slowly and steadily for a nationalist uprising, on the lines of the Italian ''

Carbonari The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...

''. Aurobindo returned to Bengal in 1906, and with the assistance of

Subodh Mallik Subodh Chandra Basu Mallik (9 February 1879 – 14 November 1920), commonly known as ''Raja'' Subodh Mallik, was a Bengali Indian industrialist, philanthropist and nationalist. Mallik is noted as a nationalist intellectual who was one of the c ...

and

Bipin Chandra Pal Bipin Chandra Pal ( bn, বিপিন চন্দ্র পাল ; 7 November 1858 – 20 May 1932) was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and Indian independence movement freedom fighter. He was one third of the “L ...

, founded in 1907 the radical Bengali nationalist publication of ''

Jugantar Jugantar or Yugantar ( bn, যুগান্তর ''Jugantor''; lit. ''New Era'' or ''Transition of an Epoch'') was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence. This association, like Anushi ...

'' and its English counterpart '' Bande Mataram''. After a slow start, the journal gradually grew to acquire a mass appeal in Bengal through its radicalist approach and message of revolutionary programmes. Aurobindo, active in nationalist politics in the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, increasingly became the prominent voice of radical nationalists including

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

and Bipin Pal who advocated break-away from Britain and justified violent revolution as a means to this end. Nationalist writings and publications by Aurobindo and his brother Barin included '' Bande Mataram'', ''

'' had a widespread impact among the youth of Bengal. By 1907 it was selling 7,000 copies, which later rose to 20,000. Its message, aimed at elite politically conscious readers was essentially critique and defiance of British rule in India, and justification of political violence. The publication inspired a proportion of the young men who joined ''Anushilan Samiti'' cited the influence of ''Jugantar'' in their decisions. In 1907, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo faced prosecution for the message emanating from ''Bande Mataram'', with Pal being convicted. Meanwhile, ''Jugantar'' was also subject to close scrutiny.

32 Muraripukur Garden House

By 1907, Barin Ghosh had begun gathering around groups of young men attracted to the ''Jugantar'' message. This was at a time that the

Dhaka Anushilan Samiti Dhaka Anushilan Samiti was a branch of the Anushilan Samiti founded in the city of Dhaka in November 1905. Initially a group of eighty under the leadership of Pulin Behari Das, it "spread like wildfire" throughout the province of East Bengal. Mo ...

under Pulin Das was becoming active in seeking to target British administrative officers and interests as targets. Police searches and surveillance of ''Jugantar'' became routine, and the younger Ghosh cut his ties with the paper. A close group of approximately a dozen young men gathered around Barin, some of whom lived in his garden house in 36 Muraripukur lane, in the Manicktolla suburb of Calcutta. The house was intended by Barin to be organised along the lines of an ''

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<

Ullaskar Dutt, a self-taught chemist from the

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is ...

suburb of Calcutta who was attracted to the ''Jugantar'' message. The group had targeted the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal since 1906. In autumn 1906 Charu Chandra Dutt and Prafulla Chaki had made a failed attempt to assassinate the governor at

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nep ...

. With Dutta's expertise, the plans were revisited. By October that year, Dutta was in a position to manufacture a bomb powerful enough to blow up a train. With dynamite obtained by Barin's group, Dutt produced a bomb with a detonator of his own manufacturing. The intended target was the train carrying the lieutenant governor of Bengal, Andrew Fraser. Through November 1907, two attempts were made to target the train carrying the lieutenant governor, which were unsuccessful. However, the group was at last successful on 5 December when Bibhutibhushan sarkar and Prafulla Chaki successfully detonated Dutt's bomb under the Governor's train at Narayangarh, near

Midnapore Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...

. The Governor escaped unhurt, but security was tightened around him in the investigation that followed. In January 1908, Dutt successfully produced a more powerful

picric acid Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from el, πικρός (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic ...

bomb that was tested in

Deoghar Deoghar (pronounced ''Devaghar'') is a major city in Jharkhand, India. It is a holy sacred place of Hinduism. It is one of the 12 ''Jyotirlinga''s sites of Hinduism (Baidyanath Temple). The sacred temples of the city make this a place for p ...

. Accidentally, a young revolutionary of Rangpur, Prafulla Kumar Chakraborty, died that time. However, by this time Bengal police had infiltrated the Medinapore branch of the ''Samiti'' through an infiltrator, who was able to pass on information on the Manisktolla ''ashram'', which he obtained from Satyendranth Bose. This included the names of Barin Ghosh and Aurobindo, and both were soon the subject of surveillance by Calcutta police. However, the Government desisted from acting against Ghosh's group, fearful they would melt away to regroup in secret.

Muzaffarpur bombings and aftermath

The plot of killing Kingsford

In 1907, Barin Ghosh arranged to send

Hem Chandra Kanungo Hemchandra Das Kanungo (4 August 1871 – 8 April 1951) was an Indian nationalist and a member of the Anushilan Samiti. Kanungo travelled to Paris in 1907, where he learnt the technique of assembling picric acid bombs from exiled Russian revol ...

(Hem Chandra Das), one of his associates, to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to learn the art of bomb-making from Nicholas Safranski, a Russian revolutionary in exile in the French Capital. Returning to Bengal, Hem began working with Barin Ghosh again. With Fraser alerted, a new target was selected in Douglas Kingsford. Kingsford was the Chief Magistrate of the Presidency court of Alipore, and had overseen the trials of

Bhupendranath Dutta Bhupendranath Datta (4 September 1880 – 25 December 1961) was an Indian revolutionary and later a noted sociologist and anthropologist. He associated Rishi Aurobindo in his political works. In his youth, he was closely associated with the Ju ...

and other editors of ''Jugantar'', sentencing them to rigorous imprisonment. "Bhupendranath Dutt, the editor, and proprietor of the ''Jugantar'' was arrested in July 1907 and charged under section 124 A ... Bhupendranath was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment ... The Jugantar's stance was typically defiant ... The paper did nothing to tone down the rhetoric in its future editions." ''Jugantar'' itself responded with defiant editorials. The defiance of ''Jugantar'' saw it face five more prosecutions that left it in financial ruins by 1908. These prosecutions brought the paper more publicity, and helped disseminate the ''Samitis ideology of revolutionary nationalism. Shukla Sanyal notes in 2014 that revolutionary terrorism as an ideology began to win support amongst a significant populace in Bengal, tacitly even if not overt. "This attitude cost the paper dearly. It suffered five more prosecutions that, by July 1908, brought about its financial ruin … The trials brought the paper a great deal of publicity and helped greatly in the dissemination of the revolutionary ideology ... testimony to the fanatical loyalty that the paper inspired in its readers and the deep impression that the ''Jugantar'' writings made on them ... revolutionary terrorism as an ideology began to win if not overt, then at least the tacit, support of Bengalis." Kingsford also earned notoriety among nationalists when he ordered the whipping of a young Bengali boy by the name of Sushil Sen for participating in the protests that followed the ''Jugantar'' trial. The first attempt to kill Kingsford was in the form of a book bomb that Hem constructed. An empty tin of Cadbury's cocoa was packed with a pound of picric acid and three detonators. This was packed into a hollowed section of

Herbert Broom Herbert Broom (1815–1882) was an English writer on law. Life Broom was born at Kidderminster in 1815, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated as a wrangler in 1837. He proceeded LL.D. in 1864. He was called to the ba ...

's ''Commentaries on the Common Law'' and delivered wrapped in brown paper to Kingsford's house by a young revolutionary named Paresh Mallick. Kingsford placed the unopened package in his shelf to examine it later. By March 1908, fearful of the judge's safety, he was promoted to District Judge and transferred by the government to

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth ...

in the northern part of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. With him went his furniture, library and the book bomb made by Hem Chandra. Bengali_revolutionary_Khudiram_Bose_under_guard

The attempt and the failure

''Anushilan'', under Barin, persisted in their attempts to kill Kingsford. In April, a two-man reconnaissance team visited Muzaffarpur, which included Prafulla Chaki. On their return, Hem provided the bomb that was to be used, composed of 6 ounces of dynamite, a detonator, and a black powder fuse. Prafulla returned to Muzaffarpur with a new man,

. However, the outlines of these plans to attempt to take Kingsford's life had also become known to Calcutta police, and commissioner Frederick Loch Halliday had passed on the alert to the Muzaffarpur superintendent of police. Kingsford was thus alerted by the superintendent, but had ignored the warnings. Four men were assigned to guard the magistrate's house. On the evening of 29 April, Bose and Chaki were in place to execute their plans. Pretending to be schoolboys, they surveyed the Muzaffarpur park, opposite The British club frequented by Kingsford. They were noticed by a constable. The next day they returned and, being noticed by the same constable, they scurried away. The duo moved away, then doubled back, hiding in a tree with the bomb. Kingsford was playing bridge that night at the club with his wife and the wife and daughter of a local barrister,

Pringle Kennedy Pringle Kennedy (1855 – 16 February 1925) was a British author and barrister. He wrote 2 books (during 1905–1925) for which he is best known: * ''A History of the Great Moghuls (Or A History of the Badshahate of Delhi From 1398 AD To 1739)'', i ...

. Finishing the last game at 8:30 in the evening, the group broke up to head home. Kingsford and his wife were in a carriage identical to and immediately behind that carrying the Kennedys. As the first carriage passed the tree hiding Chaki and Bose, Bose ran up to the carriage and threw his bomb through the carriage window. Both the occupants were fatally wounded. Escaping in the ensuing confusion, Bose and Chaki broke up and left the town separately. Bose walked through the night, reaching a small town called Waini, from where he intended to take the train back to Calcutta. Unfamiliar with the place, he came under the scrutiny of two constables and was caught while attempting to escape. Chaki, in the meantime, was able to take a different train, but came under the suspicion of an off-duty policeman named Nandalal Bannerjee. Bannerjee telegraphed Calcutta, and upon receiving instructions to detain Chaki, attempted to arrest. Chaki attempted to escape from the platform fighting his way through with his revolver and, down to his last bullet, shot himself in the mouth.

Arrest

File:Aurobindo jail picture.JPG, Aurobindo on the day of his arrest on May 1, 1908 News of the bombings reached Calcutta on 1 May 1908, and suspicion was immediately on Aurobindo and Barin. Fraser, the Governor of Bengal, contemplated arrest and deportation of the ''Samiti'' leadership of the Ghosh brothers, Abhinash Bhattacharya, Hemchandra Das and Satyendranath Bosu. Fraser feared that the evidence may not be sufficient to obtain conviction in a formal trial. By the time Fraser had wired the Government of India, however, Halliday, unaware of Fraser's actions, begun the process of charging Aurobindo and the Manicktolla group. By 7'o clock in the evening, warrants had been obtained to search eight places in Calcutta and the Manicktolla suburbs, and an operation was put in motion which involved all of Calcutta's police superintendents, nearly twelve inspectors, and more than a hundred constables. A news of the killings broke in the evening newspapers in Calcutta. Barin and his group, warned by Aurobindo, began hiding away arms, ammunition, and bombs in various stages of preparation at the house in Muraripukur lane that served as the headquarters. The place also contained a substantial amount of incriminating papers which the group attempted to burn. On 2 May 1908, police arrested an initial 33 suspects. Aurobindo, Sailen Bose and Abhinash Bhattacharya were arrested from Ghosh's Grey Street office where the trio were staying and his writings and letters were confiscated by the police. They were taken to the police headquarters at

Lal Bazar Lal Bazar is a locality in the municipal committee of Srinagar in the Indian administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It comes under the Zadibal constituency of the Srinagar Legislative Assembly. Lal Bazar is a well known posh area ...

at midday, and then held at the detective headquarters at Royd Street overnight, before being produced in front of Commissioner Halliday the following morning. Meanwhile, seven additional police teams raided properties linked to the Ghosh brothers in North Calcutta, including the residences in Scott Street and in Harrison Road. A search in this second place uncovered large amounts of explosives, bombs, and chemicals left behind by Ullaskar Dutta. Meanwhile, Barin and fourteen others were arrested in a raid at the Maniktala garden premises where they had been staying the night before. A search of the premises led to the discovery large amounts of arms and ammunitions the group had attempted to hide away, while a large amount of incriminating documents and papers that the group had not managed to burn were also seized.

Statement by Barin Ghosh

Fearing that the entire ''Samiti'' organisation stood at jeopardy, Barin offered to make a confessional statement taking responsibility for the conspiracy and the materiel. Convinced that they would be awarded the death penalty in any case, Barin was joined in written statements by Ullashkar Dutt, Indubhushan Roy and Bibhutibhushan Sarkar who implicated themselves taking entire responsibility with written statements, later confirmed orally in front of a magistrate.

''Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others''

Alipore Bomb Case 1908-09 Trial Room - Alipore Sessions Court - Calcutta 1997 1

The Maniktala gardens under the jurisdiction of the Alipore suburb of Calcutta. On 5 May 1908, Aurobindo and others were produced in front of the chief presidency magistrate's court, where they were allowed access to lawyers for the first time. From here the case was transferred to the Alipore chief magistrate's court, and the accused were held at Alipore jail, with Aurobindo held in solitary confinement.

Initial hearings

On 18 May, the accused were formally charged in the first hearing of ''Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others''. The charges included "organising to wage war against the government" and charging each individual accused with "waging war against the King". The prosecution was headed by Eardley Norton, a leading barrister of the then presidency of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. The hearing was assigned to the court of additional district magistrate, Leonard Birley, ICS. Birley started hearing evidence from the 222 witnesses even before formal charges had been pressed. Nearly 2000 material and documentary exhibits formed the evidence. In total, ultimately 49 stood accused. They were held separately from other prisoners. In the middle of June, the accused were transferred to a three-roomed wing at Alipore Jail, from where they were later moved to Ward 23 of Alipore jail. The hearings against the accused had continued through May with intermittent recesses. However, despite a considerable body of evidence against most of the accused, very little evidence existed against Aurobindo himself. The structure of ''Anushilan Samiti'' prevented the higher echelons of the organisation from becoming familiar to the junior ranks, and Aurobindo's involvement in the organisation and its activities were hard to pinpoint, except for a few letters and correspondences confiscated at Barin's Manicktolla garden house. These included letters Barin had written in 1907, initialled "A.G." proclaiming the time for distributing "sweets" across India, a euphemism for bombs of which the technology Hem Chandra had learnt in Paris. On the other hand, much of the aim of the prosecution was to gain conviction against Aurobindo, who was seen as the most dangerous individual driving the ''Samiti'' against the Raj.

Murder of Naren Goswami

Unable to identify stronger material evidence, the prosecution began an effort to obtain witnesses who may be able to implicate Aurobindo. Their target became a young Anushilanite by the name of Naren Goswami. Goswami belonged to the family of a landowner in Bengal, of a wealthy background and social standing. He had been arrested at Maniktala with Barin and others on the initial raid. On 22 June, Prosecutor Norton announced to the court that Narendranath Goswami had turned "King's witness", or prosecution witness, in return for a pardon. By the middle of August, Birley had heard evidence against the accused. He twice rejected the defence's requests to cross-examine Goswami, using discretionary powers granted to him by the government of Bengal. On 19, 31 August, prisoners were committed to stand trial at Alipore Sessions Court for waging war against the King. On the evidence against Aurobindo, Birley concluded that letters and correspondences from members of the group --- particularly one letter from Barin where he had referred to "distributing sweets" across India --- indicated prima facie involvement on Aurobindo's part. Interned with his fellow conspirators, Barin Ghosh had carefully planned to stage a jail-break. Careful plans were made to overpower guards with acid, bombs and with arms smuggled into the jail with the help of ''Samiti'' members and of family members. By the last week of August, Barin was able to obtain two revolvers, a R.I.C. 0.45 calibre and an Osborne 0.38 calibre revolver. However, the accused soon realised that Goswami knew more than anticipated, and his evidence may implicate many accused including the Ghosh Brothers. A decision was taken by Hem Chandra Das to silence Naren. On 29 August, Kanailal Dutt feigned abdominal colic and gained admission to the Jail hospital, from where he sent word to Naren of wishing to turn approver, along with Satyendranath Bosu. Naren, believing the ruse, walked into the Hospital ward to meet the duo with the jail overseer. Armed with the two revolvers smuggled in at Barin's request, Sen and Dutta chased Goswami down the jail corridors. The overseer accompanying Goswami, Warden Higgins, attempted to overpower Dutt but was shot through the wrist. Another overseer named Lynton tried to overpower Bose, but the latter broke free. Both Bose and Dutt shot Goswami multiple times, hitting his hip and piercing his spine, wounding him fatally. Bose and Dutta, firing nine shots in total into Goswami's lifeless body, gave themselves up once they realised Goswami was dead. Dutta later pleaded guilty, was convicted and hanged. Bose was initially declared not guilty by jury, but the verdict was returned to the high court, which returned a guilty verdict and awarded him the death sentence.

Alipore sessions court

On 19 October 1908, the hearing for the trial began at the court of Charles Poten Beachroft who served as the additional sessions judge of the District 24 Paraganas. Beechcroft and Aurobindo had previously entered the Indian Civil Service Examinations in England in the same year, where Aurobindo had ranked ahead of Beechcroft. The defence team was composed of 15 lawyers, barristers and pleaders. Aurobindo was initially represented by Byomkesh Chakravarty, a leading Calcutta barrister. In addition to the 1500 documents and material evidence, defence team entered further 54 items. However, Chakravarty was successfully able to challenge Norton's attempts to enter Goswami's testimony as evidence, and able to obtain Beachcroft's ruling that Birley broke the law in refusing to allow defence to cross-examine Goswami. The trial continued for a year (1908-1909). In all, 206 witnesses were called, around 400 documents were filed with the court, and more than 5000 exhibits were produced including bombs, revolvers, and acids. However, Chakravarty soon pulled out of Ghosh's defence team, as the funds failed to meet his fees. On the desperate appeal of Ghosh's uncle Krishna Kumar Mitra, the defence was taken over by

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swara ...

, then still a junior barrister. Early in the trial, Barin and his fellow detainees from the Manicktolla ashram withdrew their confessions. Despite this, the scope lay to use their evidences against themselves. However, the prosecution's efforts to link Aurobindo to the group and to implicate him as the leader of the conspiracy began to unravel. With assassination of Naren Goswami, precious little remained to link Aurobindo to the works of Barin's group other than his published views in ''Bande Mataram'' and ''Jugantar''. Das successfully argued that Aurobindo's thoughts and writings on independence were consistent with philosophical thoughts on liberty and freedom held by the English intelligentsia. On material evidences, Das alleged outright fabrication of documents by the police where these linked Aurobindo to the conspiracy. Significantly, as the hearings proceeded through 1908 into 1909, the government of Bengal came to fear that ''Anushilan Samiti'' would mount a rescue mission to break out the undertrials. A noted rise in militant actions and assassinations linked to ''

'' in wider Bengal began to be reported, reaching the premises of the Alipore court as the hearings drew to a close. In November 1908, two assassinations were attempted in Calcutta two days apart, one targeting Chief of Police Andrew Fraser and the second where Nandalal Bannerjee --- the police officer who had arrested Prafulla Chaki --- was gunned down, both in public. That same month, a police informant was killed and mutilated in Dacca. A shaken Bengal government arrested and deported a number of ''Anushilan'' leaders, including Raja Subodh Mallik, Aurobindo's uncle Krishna Kumar Mitra, and ''Bande Mataram'' editor Shyamsunder Chakravarty to Rangoon. In response, in March 1909, ''Anushilan'' assassinated public prosecutor Ashutosh Biswas when he was gunned down by Charu Chandra Bose in the very steps of the Alipore High court where the hearings were beginning to draw to a close. The final arguments for prosecution and defence began amidst tight security at the end of March 1909. Das, closing his argument for defense, famously stated:

The verdict

File:Barindra Kumar Ghosh 01.jpg,

, sentenced to death, later converted to transportation to Cellular Jail, Andamans Beechcroft delivered his verdicts on 6 May 1909, amidst tight security in Calcutta to prevent outbreak of nationalist violence. Observing the popular supports following the executions of Khudiram Bose,

and

Satyen Bose Satyen Bose (22 January 1916 – 9 June 1993) was a film director from India. He has directed both Bengali and Hindi language films. Among his most notable films are ''Raat Aur Din, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Dosti'', and '' Jagriti''. ''Jagriti'' w ...

, the day of the verdict was kept closely guarded. Additional security measures were put in place, with a reserve force of European officers held ready in case of an outbreak of violence and disorder in the streets of Calcutta. Sessions Judge Charles Porten Beachcroft delivered his verdicts on 6 May 1909, amidst tight security in Calcutta. Regarding Sri Aurobindo, he said: In his verdict,

and Ullaskar Dutt were found guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging (later commuted to life imprisonment). Thirteen others, Upendra Nath Banerjee, Bibhuti Bhusan Sarkar, Hrishikesh Kanjilal, Birendra Sen, Sudhir Sarkar, Indra Nundy, Abinash Bhattacharjee, Soilendra Bose, Hem Chunder Das, Indu Bhusan Roy, Poresh Mullick, Sishir Ghosh, Nirapado Roy were sentenced to transportation for life and forfeiture of all property. Three others, Poresh Mullick, Sishir Ghosh, Nirapado Roy were sentenced to ten years incarceration along with forfeiture of property. A further three Asoke Nundy, Balkrishna Kane, Susil Sen were sentenced to seven years jail terms. Seventeen, including Aurobindo, were found not guilty. One defendant, Krishna Jiban Sanyal, was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment. Two of the 17 acquitted, Dharaninath Gupta & Nagendranath Gupta, were already undergoing a 7-year sentence for conviction in the Harrison Road case, so they were not released. Probash Chunder Dey was re-arrested on a

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, esta ...

charge under Section 124A, in connection with the publication of the book "Desh Acharjya". The verdict on Aurobindo was passed last. Beechcroft highlighted the lack of concrete evidence linking Aurobindo to the conspiracy in the lack of crown-witness Naren Goswami. The verdict was disappointing to the Government of India, who had hoped to obtain a conviction against Aurobindo. Further fears were raised that those acquitted may have already received instructions from Hem on constructing the bombs. Aurobindo further was seen as the most dangerous adversary to the Raj whilst he remained free. Consulted on the prospects of a successful appeal against the verdict on Aurobindo, the advocate general of Bombay the chance of obtaining a conviction "fair", but was unable to provide more reassuring prospects. In August 1909, the government took the decision not to launch an appeal. Of the two sentenced to death by hanging (but released in 1920), Ullaskar Dutt, a young man of 22, described his occupation as a cow keeper. Barindra Kumar Ghosh, younger brother of Aurobindo Ghosh, was a key player in the Alipore trial. It was in their house that the revolutionaries carried out their activities. Barindra had been born in England and came to India at the age of one. According to British Indian law, he was asked whether he preferred being tried as a British citizen. Barin, as a patriot, refused. Those two were sentenced to death, with the sentence later commuted to life imprisonment in the

Cellular Jail The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (), was a British colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The prison was used by the colonial government of India for the purpose of exiling criminals and political prisoners. Many ...

in Andamans, where they remained until a general amnesty, in 1920.

Popular perception

The trial was considered sensational at the time, and generated an enormous amount of interest in both the British and Indian press. In India, journals such as ''The Empire'' ran editorials calling for harsh punishments for the undertrials. ''The Times'' published a number of reports, reflecting on Aurobindo's career, Aurobindo's monologues and essays, published in Karmayogin, ''Jugantar'', and other publications.

Impact

In the aftermath of the trial, the power of native Indian press in promoting nationalist messages were severely curtailed, with the Indian Press act of 1910 allowing provincial governments to demand punitive deposits from journals deemed hostile to the Raj.

, who had close ties with Aurobindo, was arrested and charged with

, subsequently found guilty despite publicly dissociating himself from the Muzzafarpur bombings. In the aftermath of these events, moderates in the Indian National Congress came to be a more prominent force within the organisation, and developed a closer working relationship with the Raj. The

Minto-Morley reforms The Indian Councils Act 1909, commonly known as the Morley–Minto or Minto–Morley Reforms, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a limited increase in the involvement of Indians in the governance of British I ...

were passed in 1910. Historians like Peter Heehs argue that although these had been planned as early as 1906, the popular impact of the trials hastened, or were perceived to hasten, the passage. In the view of the larger population, the actions of Aurobindo and his group took credit for this.

Aftermath

Aurobindo Ghosh was acquitted of the charges (among 17 acquitted) and came out of the affair with a new outlook on life and spirituality (see final conversion). He recused himself from active politics, ultimately settling to his ''ashram'' in

. Barin was interred till 1920, and after being released from jail he worked as a journalist, including '' The Statesman''. He died in 1959. Aurobindo retired from active politics after he was acquitted. Aurobihdo’s retirement from active politics after his acquittal ... This was followed by a 1909 Dhaka conspiracy case, which brought 44 members of the Dhaka Anushilan to trial. In the aftermath of the Manicktala conspiracy, the western Anushilan Samiti found a more-prominent leader in

and emerged as the

. Jatin revitalised links between the central organisation in Calcutta and its branches in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

, establishing hideouts in the

Sunderbans Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly ...

for members who had gone underground.'' M.N. Roy's Memoirs'' p3 The group slowly reorganised, aided by

Amarendra Chatterjee Amarendranath Chatterjee ( bn, অমরেন্দ্রনাথ চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (01July 1880 – 4 September 1957) was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, ...

Naren Bhattacharya Manabendra Nath Roy (born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya, better known as M. N. Roy; 21 March 1887 – 25 January 1954) was an Indian revolutionary, radical activist and political theorist, as well as a noted philosopher in the 20th century. Roy ...

and other younger leaders. Some of its younger members, including

Taraknath Das Taraknath Das (or Tarak Nath Das; 15 June 1884 – 22 December 1958) was an Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. He was a pioneering immigrant in the west coast of North America and discussed his plans with Tolstoy, while organi ...

, left India. Between 1909 and 1914, the group continued its campaign against the interests, making a number of attempts on the lives of Raj officials with variable successes. In a concerted attempt of revenge, Ashutosh Biswas, an advocate of Calcutta High Court in charge of the prosecution of the Gossain murder case, was shot dead within Calcutta High Court in 1909. In 1910, Shamsul Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Bengal Police responsible for investigating the Alipore Bomb case, was shot dead on the steps of Calcutta High Court. Naren Bannerjee, the police officer who arrested Kshudiram Bose, was murdered in 1910. These assassinations led up to the uncovering of Jatin's network, precipitating the

Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy case The Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy case refers to the arrest and trials of 47 Bengali Indian nationalists of the ''Anushilan Samiti'' that followed in the wake of the murder of Inspector Shamsul Alam on 24 January 1910 in Calcutta. Alam was Deputy su ...

. Undeterred, the Samiti's networks continued the attempts on political violence and assassinations, using its base in Chandernagore. The most notable was the attempt on the life of Viceroy of India in 1912 in a conspiracy headed by

Rash Behari Bose Rash Behari Bose (; 25 May 1886 – 21 January 1945) was an Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj. He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and founded the First Indian National Army during World War 2. The Indian N ...

. However, the most serious threat organised by the Samiti arose in 1914 when, with the clouds of war gathering in Europe in 1914, the Samiti began liaising with revolutionary groups abroad and with Imperial Germany to overthrow the British Raj with a Pan-Indian Mutiny.

Memoirs and other publications

Several convicts of Maniktala Bomb Case wrote memoirs after their release from British captivity. Following is a brief list: *Bandyopadhyay, Upendranath (1921). ''নির্বাসিতের আত্মকথা'', Calcutta: Hrishikesh Kanjilal. *Ghosh, Barindra Kumar (1922). ''The Tale of My Exile'', Pondicherry: Arya Office. *Ghosh, Barindra Kumar (1922). ''বারীন্দ্রের আত্মকাহিনী'', Calcutta: D.M. Library. *Datta, Ullaskar (1923). ''কারাজীবনী'', Calcutta: Arya Publishing House. *Datta, Ullaskar (1924). ''Twelve Years of Prison Life'', Pondicherry: Arya Office.

Commemoration

*The site of Barin Ghosh's country residence – the site of arrest of fourteen nationalists who stood trial – is commemorated by a marble plaque unveiled in 1990 by the West Bengal state government in independent India. *48 Grey Street, where Aurobindo was arrested with three others, was also commemorated with a marble plaque from the government in 1993. Grey street was renamed Aurobindo Sarani by West Bengal Government in independent India. *Pusa road railway station, where Khudiram Bose was arrested, is now named after him. *Kanailal Dutt is commemorated with a bust at his birth town of Chanderrnagore. *The Osborne 0.38 calibre revolver used in Naren Goswami's assassination forms a part of collections of Police Museum at Kolkata.

Notes

References

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External links

Life of Sri Aurobindo
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180305050359/http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/research/show.php?set=doclife&id=14 Alipore trial {{Indian Revolutionary Movement Anushilan Samiti 1908 in India Sri Aurobindo Alipore Trials in India 20th century in Kolkata Indian case law 1909 in India