Meerut Conspiracy Case

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[[File:Meerut prisoners outside the jail.jpg|350px|thumb|Portrait of 25 of the [[Meerut]] Prisoners taken outside the jail. Back row (left to right): K. N. Sehgal, [[Sohan Singh Josh|S. S. Josh]], [[Lester Hutchinson|H. L. Hutchinson]], [[Shaukat Usmani]], [[Benjamin Francis Bradley|B. F. Bradley]], A. Prasad, [[Philip Spratt|P. Spratt]], [[G. Adhikari]]. Middle Row: [[Radharaman Mitra]], Gopen Chakravarti, Kishori Lal Ghosh, L. R. Kadam, D. R. Thengdi, Goura Shanker, S. Bannerjee, [[K.N. Joglekar]], [[P. C. Joshi]], [[Muzaffar Ahmed (politician)|Muzaffar Ahmed]]. Front Row: M. G. Desai, D. Goswami, R.S. Nimbkar, [[S.S. Mirajkar]], [[S.A. Dange]], [[Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate|S.V. Ghate]], Gopal Basak.]]

The '''Meerut Conspiracy Case''' was a controversial [[court case]] that was initiated in [[British India]] in March 1929 and decided in 1933. Several [[trade union]]ists, including three [[Englishmen]], were arrested for organizing an Indian railway strike. The [[British government]] convicted 27 leftist trade union leaders under a lawsuit. The trial immediately caught attention in [[England]], where it inspired the 1932 play ''Meerut'' by a [[Manchester]] [[street theatre]] group, the Red Megaphones, highlighting the detrimental effects of colonisation and industrialisation.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080303235605/http://www.wcml.org.uk/internat/meerut.htm ''Meerut'' 1932 play, by Manchester street theatre group the Red Megaphones] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303235605/http://www.wcml.org.uk/internat/meerut.htm |date=3 March 2008 }} ''[[Working Class Movement Library]]''.</ref>

==Background==
The [[British government]] was clearly worried about the growing influence of the [[Communist International]]. It was also thoroughly convinced that all infiltration of communist and socialist ideas was propagated to the workers by the [[Communist Party of India]] (CPI). Its ultimate objective, the government perceived, was to achieve "complete paralysis and overthrow of existing Governments in every country (including India) by means of a general strike and armed uprising".<ref name="Working Class Movement Library"/>
The government's immediate response was to foist yet another conspiracy case, the [[Meerut]] Conspiracy Case.

In more than one way, the trial helped the [[Communist Party of India]] to consolidate its position among workers. Dange, along with 32 other persons, was arrested on or about 20 March 1929 <ref name="Working Class Movement Library"/> and put on trial under Section 121A of the [[Indian Penal Code]]: <blockquote>Whoever within or without [[British India]] conspires to commit any of the offenses punishable by Section 121 or to deprive the King of the sovereignty of British India or any part thereof, or conspires to overawe, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, the Government of India or any local Government, shall be punished with transportation for life,<ref>During the British rule, a severe form of punishment was banishing convicts to a penal settlement in [[Andaman Islands]].</ref> or any shorter term, or with imprisonment of either description which may extend to ten years.</blockquote>

==Charges==
The main charges were that in 1921 [[S.A. Dange]], [[Shaukat Usmani]] and [[Muzaffar Ahmed (politician)|Muzaffar Ahmed]] joined a conspiracy to establish a branch of the [[Comintern]] in India and were helped by various persons, including the accused [[Philip Spratt]] and [[Benjamin Francis Bradley]], who were sent to India by the Communist International. The aim of the accused persons, according to the charges raised against them, was under section 121-A of the [[Indian Penal Code]] (Act 45 of 1860):<blockquote> to deprive the King Emperor of the sovereignty of British India, and for such purpose to use the methods and carry out the programme and plan of campaign outlined and ordained by the Communist International.</blockquote>

The Sessions Court in Meerut awarded stringent sentences to the accused in January 1933. Of the accused, 27 persons were convicted with various durations of 'transportation'. Muzaffar Ahmed was transported for life, and Dange, Spratt, Ghate, Joglekar and Nimbkar were awarded transportation for a period of 12 years. On appeal, in August 1933, the sentences of Ahmed, Dange and Usmani were reduced to three years<ref>In S.H. Jhabwala And Ors. vs Emperor decided on 3 August 1933 AIR All 690 or 145 Ind Cas 481 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1416180/</ref> by [[Sir Shah Sulaiman]] Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, on the grounds that the accused had already spent a considerable part of their sentence while they waited for the trial to be decided and because <blockquote> in the case of political offenses, arising out of the beliefs of the accused, severe sentences defeat their object. In practice such sentences confirm the offenders in their beliefs and create other offenders, thus increasing the evil and the danger to the public.</blockquote>

The sentences of convicted others were also reduced.<ref name="Working Class Movement Library">{{Cite web |url=http://www.wcml.org.uk/Main/en/contents/international/india/meerut/ |title=Meerut - the trial |access-date=2 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102125813/http://www.wcml.org.uk/Main/en/contents/international/india/meerut/ |archive-date=2 November 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The convictions of Desai, Hutchinson, Mitra, Jhabwala, Sehgal, Kasle, Gauri Shankar, Kadara and Alve were also overturned on appeal.

==Impact==
Though all the accused were communists, the charges framed against them portrayed the British government's fear for growth of communist ideas in India. In the trial, all of the accused all labeled as Bolsheviks. For four-and-a-half years, the defendants turned the courtroom into a public platform to espouse their cause. As a result, the trial saw strengthening of the communist movement in the country. [[Harkishan Singh Surjeet]], a former General Secretary of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]], wrote about the aftermath of the Meerut Conspiracy case:<blockquote>a Party with a centralized apparatus, came into being only after the release of the Meerut prisoners, in 1933. The Meerut Conspiracy Case, though launched to suppress the communist movement, provided the opportunity for Communists to propagate their ideas. It came out with its own manifesto and was affiliated to the Communist International in 1934.<ref>[http://www.cpim.org/marxist/1995_marxist_cpi_75_hks.htm Surjeet, Harkishan Singh ''75th Anniversary of the Formation of the Communist Party of India''], an article in ''The Marxist'', New Delhi, Volume: 2, No. 1 Issue: January- March 1984</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
* [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]

==Further reading==
* '' Meerut 1929-1932: Statement given in his own defence at Meerut Court, India, against a charge of " Conspiracy against the King "'' by Lester Hutchinson. Manchester Meerut Defence Committee, 1932.
* ''Meerut: Release the Prisoners! A Statement Upon the Meerut Trial and Sentences'', by National Joint Council. Published by National Joint Council, 1933.
* ''Conspiracy at Meerut'', by Lester Hutchinson. Ayer Publishing, 1972, {{ISBN|0-405-04154-3}}.
* ''Meerut Conspiracy Case & the Left-wing in India'', by Pramita Ghosh. Published by Papyrus, 1978.
* ''The Great Attack: Meerut Conspiracy Case'', by Sohan Singh Josh. Published by People's Pub. House, 1979.
* ''Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Communist Movement in India, 1929-35'', by Devendra Singh. Published by Research India, 1990.
* ''Judgment on the Meerut Communist Conspiracy Case'', by Meerut (India). Sessions Court, R. L. Yorke, Adhir Chakravarti, State Archives of West Bengal. Published by State Archives of [[West Bengal]], Education Dept., Govt. of West Bengal, 1991.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071113162238/http://www.wcml.org.uk/internat/meerut1.htm The Meerut Conspiracy Trial: Background, charges and sentences]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080303235605/http://www.wcml.org.uk/internat/meerut.htm ''Meerut'' 1932 play, by Manchester street theatre group the Red Megaphones]
* [https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ao4INuFk6h37iQcs8v_x7MHbONjs Meerut Conspiracy Case - Newspaper cuttings 1929 (link updated 12/2019)]

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[[Category:1933 in case law]]
[[Category:1933 in India]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India]]
[[Category:History of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Political repression in British India]]
[[Category:History of Meerut]]
[[Category:Indian case law]]

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Meerut Conspiracy Case