Emperor v. Aurobindo Ghosh and others
The Alipore bomb case (or Alipore bomb conspiracy or Alipore bomb trial) was an important court trial in the history of the Indian Independence Movement.
The bombing
When Bengal was partitioned, it sparked an outburst of public anger against the British. The anger led to civil unrest and a nationalist campaign was carried out by groups of revolutionaries, led by Aurobindo Ghosh, Rasbihari Bose and Bagha Jatin and organized into groups like Jugantar. The British cracked down hard on the activists and the conflict came to a head on April 30 1908 when Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attempted to kill Magistrate Kingsford, a judge known for handing down particularly harsh sentences against nationalists. However, the bomb thrown at his horse carriage missed its target and instead landed in a carriage carrying two British women, killing them.
The trial
The local police immediately raided a property of Aurobindo Ghosh's where revolutionaries were trained by his organisation and along with many activists, Ghosh was himself arrested on charges of planning and overseeing the attack and for some time was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Alipore Jail. After an intense manhunt, Khudiram Bose was arrested though Prafulla Chaki shot himself rather than fall into the hands of the police. The trial soon began - 49 people stood accused, 206 witnesses were called, around 400 documents were filed with the court and more than 5000 exhibits were produced including bombs, revolvers, and acids. The trial continued for a year and Bose was found guilty and hanged. Ghosh, however, was defended by the young lawyer Chittaranjan Das who concluded his defence;
- My appeal to you is this, that long after the controversy will be hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, the agitation will have ceased, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed, not only in India but across distant seas and lands. Therefore, I say that the man in his position is not only standing before the bar of this Court, but before the bar of the High Court of History.[1]
Ghosh was acquitted of the charges and came out of the affair with a new outlook on life and spirtualism (see final conversion).