Trial of INA

The trial of the prisoners of Indian National Army was the hallmark of Nationalist Movement during the post-Second World War period. Discuss

Indian National Army (INA) under the leadership of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose fought valiantly against the British forces during the Second World War. But with the collapse of Japan in the year 1945, the INA too met with defeat. As the war ended, the Quit India Movement in India was also on the wane and that is the time when the British began the trial of the officers and soldiers of the INA. The British treated these prisoners as traitors, but people of India regarded them as national heroes. Trial of three officers of the INA, namely Shah Nawaz Khan, Gurdial Singh Dhillon and Prem Sehgal, at the Red Fort was opposed by the entire country. The masses did not want these heroes to be punished. So great was the pressure from the public that even after the court martial held them guilty, the British had to set them free.

The Britishers could judge the determined mood of Indian masses. Moreover, the Second World War had shattered the economic and military might of the British Empire. There was also a mutiny in the Navy against the said trial. In addition, there were numerous strikes, hartals and demonstrations in various parts of the country, including several Princely States. Although there was no major movement after the Second World War, the people’s struggle against the trial of the INA prisoners filled the void. Most dangerous signals to the British came from mutiny in Navy and the strikes in the Indian Air Force and the Corps of Signals in the Army. The police and the bureaucracy were also showing the signs of nationalist leanings. The writing on the wall was clear. The centuries old British rule in India was about to end. Other important events like Cabinet Mission in 1946 and Indian Independence Act of 1947 only worked out the detailed formula for independence.

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"Trial of INA"
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