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Question 99 of 137 · Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence
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Jawaharlal Nehru, who put on his barrister's gown again after many years, was one of the defence lawyers in the famous 1945-46 Red Fort trial of the INA officers:

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Answer: Option D — Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon

Detailed Solution

Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the defence lawyers in the first and most famous Red Fort trial of officers of the Indian National Army (INA): Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon.

The INA trials:

  • After the defeat of Japan in 1945, thousands of INA soldiers and officers were captured by the British.
  • The British government decided to try some of them for "waging war against the King-Emperor", murder and abetment of murder.
  • The first trial began in November 1945 at the Red Fort in Delhi.

The three officers:

  • The accused were a Muslim (Shah Nawaz Khan), a Hindu (Prem Sahgal) and a Sikh (Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon), which made the trial a symbol of national unity.
  • The popular slogan was: "Lal Qile se aayi awaaz, Sahgal, Dhillon, Shahnawaz".

The defence:

  • The Congress set up an INA Defence Committee.
  • The defence team was led by Bhulabhai Desai, and included Jawaharlal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali, Kailash Nath Katju and others.
  • Bhulabhai Desai argued that the INA soldiers were fighting for the freedom of their country, and should be treated as prisoners of war.

Public reaction:

  • The trials led to massive protests and demonstrations all over India, in which people of all communities took part.
  • Violent clashes with the police took place in Calcutta and elsewhere.

Result:

  • The court martial found the three officers guilty and sentenced them to transportation for life.
  • However, because of the huge public pressure, the Commander-in-Chief, Claude Auchinleck, set aside the sentences, and they were released in January 1946.

Significance:

  • The trials showed the British that they could no longer rely on the loyalty of the Indian armed forces.
  • They were followed by the Royal Indian Navy revolt of February 1946.
  • Good to know
  • The other groups were revolutionaries tried in other cases, such as the Lahore and Kakori conspiracy cases.

Quick tip

Remember: Red Fort INA trial (1945-46) = Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, G. S. Dhillon; defended by Bhulabhai Desai, Nehru, Sapru; "Lal Qile se aayi awaaz".

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Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Gandhian Era & Struggle for Independence, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the freedom struggle from Gandhi's return to India in 1915 to independence in 1947: the Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad movements, the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh, the Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, the Round Table Conferences, the Cripps Mission, the Cabinet Mission and the partition of India. Most questions ask about the year, cause or result of a movement, or the event that ended it. For example, the Chauri Chaura incident (1922) led Gandhi to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement, and the Dandi March (1930) started the Civil Disobedience Movement. Learning these events on a timeline is the best way to avoid confusion. Practise the Gandhian era questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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