The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition that sought that freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru be accorded the status of martyr, stating it cannot issue such an order.
Filed by advocate Birender Sangwan, the petition asked that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were hanged by the British in 1931 be given the status of ‘shaheed’ (martyr).
Status “An Expression Of Gratitude”
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the plea noting that such a direction was not possible. The bench asked the petition to identify the law under which the court would have the power to issue such an order.
The plea stated that granting the Shaheed status was “essential for a martyr”, and called it a “legal right” as an “expression of gratitude towards them.”
In 1928, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot dead a British junior police officer, at Lahore in current Pakistan, thinking he was a British police superintendent. A special tribunal constituted by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, sentenced the both accused and Sukhdev to death by hanging at Lahore Jail.
