PGPS at 19:34, 7 February 2026

2026-02-07T19:34:31Z

New page

{{short description|Indian revolutionary (1909–1985)}}
{{for|the approver at the Amritsar Conspiracy Case at Lahore in June 1919 following the [[Jallianwala Bagh Massacre]]|Hans Raj (approver)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hans Raj Vohra
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1909
| birth_place = [[British India]]
| death_date = 13 September 1985 (aged 75-76)
| death_place = [[Maryland]], [[US]]
| other_names = Hans R. Vohra
| occupation = [[Journalist]]
| years_active =
| known_for = Testimony ([[approver]]) in the 1929–30 Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial of [[Bhagat Singh]], [[Sukhdev Thapar|Sukhdev]] and [[Shivaram Rajguru|Rajguru]]
| notable_works =
}}
'''Hans Raj Vohra''' (1909 – 13 September 1985) was an [[approver]] for British in [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|HSRA]], providing testimony for the British that identified his associates in return for his own freedom. In May 1930, his statement against [[Bhagat Singh]], [[Sukhdev Thapar]] and [[Shivaram Rajguru]], in the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial, became "crucial" in leading to passing of their death sentence .

After the trial, Vohra pursued a career in journalism, first in London, and then subsequently in Lahore and later in Washington. Before he died, he addressed a letter to Sukhdev's brother, explaining why he testified against his comrades.

== Early life and education==
Hans Raj Vohra was born in 1909.<ref name="Vaidik2016">{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/a-nation-betrayed/|title=A nation betrayed?|last=Vaidik|first=Aparna|date=25 February 2016|website=Times of India|language=en-US|access-date=7 December 2019}}</ref><ref name=Vaidik2013>{{Cite journal|last=Vaidik|first=Aparna|date=1 June 2013|title=History of a renegade revolutionary: revolutionism and betrayal in colonial India|journal=[[Postcolonial Studies]]|volume=16|issue=2|pages=216–229|doi=10.1080/13688790.2013.823264|issn=1368-8790}}</ref> His father was Guranditta Mal, a professor of mathematics at Lahore's [[Government College University, Lahore|Central Training College]].<ref name="Vaidik2015">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnSFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|title=Revolutionary Lives in South Asia: Acts and Afterlives of Anticolonial Political Action|last=Vaidik|first=Aparna|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781138794979|editor-last=Maclean|editor-first=Kama|pages=108–113|language=en|chapter=8. History of a renegade revolutionary: revolutionism and betrayal in colonial India|editor-last2=Elam|editor-first2=J. David}}</ref>

Against the wishes of his father, Vohra became a trusted colleague and follower of the leading revolutionaries, [[Sukhdev Thapar]] and [[Bhagat Singh]]. He was subsequently inducted into the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|Hindustan Socialist Republican Army]] and became a revolutionary organiser, primarily arranging the distribution of leaflets and literature in [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]] in the 1920s.<ref name="Vaidik2016"/><ref name="Vaidik2015"/> Towards the end of the 1920s, as a student of the [[Forman Christian College]]<ref>[https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/29720/7/07_chapter%202.pdf "Chapter II. Naujawan Bharat Sabha and HSRA"]. [[Shodhganga]]. p. 95.</ref> and a member of the Lahore Student's Union, he became active in the student movement, recruiting to the [[Naujawan Bharat Sabha]].<ref name=Chandra>Chandra, Ram. {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hknJqf84cLEC&pg=PA70|title=History of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha|last=Chandra|first=Ram|date=2007|publisher=Unistar Books|isbn=978-81-89899-61-5|language=en|page=240}}</ref>

==Lahore conspiracy case==
[[File:Bhagat Singh's execution Lahore Tribune Front page.jpg|thumb|Bhagat Singh's execution as reported in ''The Tribune'' of Lahore.]]
Vohra came to be in police custody for 17 days following his arrest on 17 December 1928, the same day as the murder of John Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent mistaken for [[James Alexander Scott|James Scott]].<ref name=Nayer2000p.111-114>[[Kuldip Nayar|Nayar, Kuldip]], (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bG9lA6CrgQgC&pg=PA111 ''The Martyr: Bhagat Singh Experiments in Revolution'']. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications. pp.111-114. {{isbn|9788124107003}}</ref> Bhagat Singh was later arrested on 8 April 1929 after he was found bombing the [[Delhi Legislative Assembly]]. Although not directly involved with the bombing, Vohra,<ref name=Verma2017>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Um42DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62|title=Rajguru - The Invincible Revolutionary|last=Verma|first=Anil|date=15 September 2017|publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting|isbn=9788123025223|language=en}}</ref> then working in the offices of ''[[Bande Mataram ]]'',<ref name=Mac2016>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJ_OCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP85|title=A Revolutionary History of Interwar India: Violence, Image, Voice and Text|last=Maclean|first=Kama|date=2016|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-93-85890-85-7|pages=68|language=en}}</ref> knew of its details through Sukhdev, and after his second arrest in May 1929, closed his testimony and "tendered pardon, the conditions of which I accepted".<ref name=Verma2017/> The testimony was subsequently used in the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial which began in July 1929.<ref name="EconomicTimes2017">{{Cite web|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nation-world/remembering-the-men-who-shook-up-the-british-raj/martyrs-day-it-is/slideshow/57792771.cms|title=Remembering the men who shook up the British Raj - Martyrs' Day it is|website=[[The Economic Times]]|access-date=15 December 2019}}</ref> In May 1930, he gave evidence in the trial which gave its judgement on 7 October 1930, sentencing "Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru to [[death by hanging]]".<ref name=Nayer2000p.111-114/><ref name="IndianLaw">{{Cite web|url=https://www.indialawjournal.org/archives/volume1/issue_3/bhagat_singh.html|title=India Law Journal|website=www.indialawjournal.org|access-date=15 December 2019}}</ref>

It was not until the 1980s that Vohra made an attempt to explain why he did not divulge his colleagues details during the first arrest but disclosed all at the second arrest in 1929 after he had been informed that his mentor Sukhdev had already given away all their secrets. Vohra claimed in the letter that he felt let down and decided "I could not risk going down with people I no longer respected".<ref name="Vaidik2016" /><ref name=Verma2017/> Author [[Kuldip Nayar]] explained in his book ''The Martyr: Bhagat Singh - Experiments in Revolution'' (2000), that in the Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial of 1929-30, Vohra's testimony "was crucial in the death sentence handed out to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru - his ex-comrades".<ref name=Nayer2000p.149>[[Kuldip Nayar|Nayar, Kuldip]], (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bG9lA6CrgQgC&pg=PA111 ''The Martyr: Bhagat Singh Experiments in Revolution'']. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications. pp.149. {{isbn|9788124107003}}</ref><ref name="outlook">{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/145his-violence-wasnt-just-about-killing146/208908|title='His Violence Wasn't Just About Killing': Interview with Kuldip Nayar|last=Nayar|first=Kuldip|date=21 February 2000|website=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=7 December 2019}}</ref>

Two other significant approvers were Phonindra Nath Ghosh, whose testimony revolved mainly around the establishment of the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|Hindustan Socialist Party]] and [[Jai Gopal]] who focused on the murder of Saunders, while it was Vohra's testimony which concentrated on Bhagat Singh's activities.<ref name=Nayer2000p.111-114/> Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru subsequently became national heroes of the [[Indian independence movement]].<ref name="EconomicTimes2017"/>

== Later life ==
Following the trial and the request to the British government by his father and acceptance by the Viceroy, Vohra was sponsored by the Punjab government to study at the [[London School of Economics]].<ref name="Vaidik2015"/> After a Masters in political science, he gained a degree in journalism from [[London University]],<ref name="Vaidik2015"/> returned to Lahore in 1936,<ref name="Vaidik2015" /> was appointed Assistant Information Officer in the [[Press Information Bureau|Bureau of Public Information]] in 1942,<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6RfvTcOhIS8C |title=Indian Information|date=1942|publisher=Bureau of the public information of the government of India.|volume=10-11|pages=452|language=en}}</ref> and was the correspondent of the ''[[Civil and Military Gazette]]'' of Lahore until 1948. In 1958, he transferred to Washington, corresponded using the name "Hans R. Vohra" and became the Washington correspondent of ''[[The Times of India]]''.<ref name="Vaidik2015"/><ref name=Business>{{Cite news|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/new-light-on-bhagat-singh-107110201047_1.html|title=New light on Bhagat Singh|last=Bhattacharya|first=A. K.|date=2 November 2007|work=[[Business Standard India]]|access-date=12 December 2019}}</ref>

He remained a correspondent and never made it to editor.<ref name="Vaidik2015" /> In 1965, as the Washington correspondent for the ''Times of India'', his interview with [[Dean Rusk]], the then [[United States Secretary of State]], was published in the ''Department of State Bulletin''.<ref name=InterviewRusk1965>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgUuhdomYbIC&pg=PA105|title=The Department of State Bulletin|date=19 July 1965|publisher=Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs|pages=105–110|language=en}}</ref>

He retired in 1969,<ref name=Economic1979>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dN4nAAAAMAAJ|title=Economic and Political Weekly|date=1979|publisher=Sameeksha Trust|location=University of Michigan|pages=1447|language=en}}</ref> but continued to work [[freelancer|freelance]].<ref name="Vaidik2015" /> In 1970, he published a paper in the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' titled "India's Nuclear Policy of Three Negatives", where he described India's attitude to the [[Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]] as "will not sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty...will not make nuclear weapons...will not accept any nuclear guarantees".<ref name="Subramanian1975">{{Cite journal|last=Subramanian|first=R. R.|date=1975|title=Nuclear India and the NPT: Prospects for the Future?|journal=Instant Research on Peace and Violence|volume=5|issue=1|pages=35–39|issn=0046-967X|jstor=40724758}}</ref><ref name=Vohra1971>{{Cite journal|last=Vohra|first=Hans R.|date=1970-04-01|title=India's Nuclear Policy of Three Negatives|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=26|issue=4|pages=25–27|doi=10.1080/00963402.1970.11457797|issn=0096-3402|bibcode=1970BuAtS..26d..25V}}</ref>

==Death==
He spent the last few years of life in [[social isolation]]. In 1981, before he died, he addressed a letter to Sukhdev's brother, explaining why he testified and expressed the wish to be forgotten:<ref name="Vaidik2015"/><ref name="outlook"/>
<blockquote>Mine has been a most difficult life, full of risks, but so far touch wood, I have emerged virtually unscathed, at least physically. But the memory of the twenties accompanies me doggedly, teasingly and hauntingly….I hope by the time I die, I would have been fully forgotten, This is my only ambition.<ref name="Vaidik2015"/></blockquote>
He died on 13 September 1985 in [[Maryland]]. He was married and had three children and by them had six grandchildren.<ref name="Vaidik2015"/><ref name=Heritage>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myheritage.com/names/hans_vohra|title=My Heritage: Hans Raj Vohra|website=www.myheritage.com|access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref>

==Selected publications==
*[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00963402.1970.11457797?journalCode=rbul20 "India's Nuclear Policy of Three Negatives"], ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'', Vol. 26, Issue 4 (1970) pp. 25–27. {{doi|10.1080/00963402.1970.11457797}}
*"A Letter From Washington: Ministry of Science—U.S. Style", ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'', Vol. 27, Issue 1 (1971), pp. 29–33. {{doi|10.1080/00963402.1971.11455308}}

==See also==
*[[Lahore Conspiracy Case (disambiguation)|Lahore Conspiracy Case]]
*[[Lahore Conspiracy Case trial]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vohra, Hans Raj}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]]
[[Category:Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]

Hans Raj Vohra - Revision history

PGPS at 19:34, 7 February 2026