INA Trials

The Indian National Army (INA) Trials—held between November 1945 and May 1946—marked the dramatic finale of the wartime resistance movements in India. While the military campaigns of the Azad Hind Fauj on the Indo-Burma frontier had collapsed by mid-1945, the subsequent decision of the British colonial administration to publicly court-martial captured INA officers backfired. The trials bridged the radical undercurrents of the Quit India Movement with widespread post-war public discontent, creating a mass anti-colonial wave that made the continuation of British rule untenable.

The Context: The Collapse of Wartime Insurgency

By August 1945, the geopolitical and domestic landscape of India had shifted dramatically.

• The Domestic Vacuum: The Quit India Movement had been suppressed by brutal state power, and its underground networks (such as Jayaprakash Narayan’s Azad Dastas and the parallel governments like Satara’s Prati Sarkar) were operating under severe constraints.
• The External Defeat: Following the atomic bombings of Japan and the death of Subhas Chandra Bose in an alleged plane crash, the INA surrendered to Allied forces in Southeast Asia.
• The British Miscalculation: Approximately 20,000 INA soldiers were disarmed and repatriated to India. Lord Wavell’s administration, confident in its victory, decided to hold public trials at the Red Fort in Delhi to demonstrate the consequences of “treason” to the Indian soldiers of the regular British Indian Army.

The Core Defendants and Symbolism

The British selected three high-ranking operational commanders of the INA to stand trial in the first, landmark case. This selection intended to emphasize the gravity of desertion, but instead highlighted the secular, unified nature of the INA leadership.

The Three Officers

• Major General Shah Nawaz Khan: A Muslim officer from the Rawalpindi region who had commanded the elite Subhas Brigade during the Imphal offensive.
• Colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal: A Hindu officer who had served as the Military Secretary to the Provisional Government and commanded the INA’s 2nd Division.
• Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon: A Sikh officer who had commanded the 4th Guerrilla Regiment during the defensive engagements along the Irrawaddy River.

The Impact of Multi-Faith Synergy

The combined trial of a Muslim, a Hindu, and a Sikh destroyed British attempts to paint the wartime resistance as a fractured or communal enterprise. It created a powerful symbol of national unity that resonated across a country experiencing severe communal polarization ahead of the upcoming provincial elections.

The Legal Battle: The INA Defence Committee

The Indian National Congress, recognizing the public sentiment, took up the cause of the INA prisoners, forming the INA Defence Committee. This move brought veteran constitutional experts and nationalist politicians back into the legal arena.

The Legal Team

• Bhulabhai Desai: The leading defense counsel who meticulously structured the constitutional argument for the INA.
• Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru: The veteran Liberal leader who provided strategic legal inputs despite failing health.
• Kailash Nath Katju: A legal expert who later served in prominent administrative roles in independent India.
• Jawaharlal Nehru: Donned his barrister’s robes after a gap of nearly 25 years to sit on the defense bench, symbolizing the official mainstream endorsement of the INA’s patriotic intent.

The Core Constitutional Argument

Bhulabhai Desai argued that the defendants could not be tried under the Indian Army Act for waging war against the King-Emperor. He asserted that they were soldiers of a formally constituted, sovereign parallel state—the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (Provisional Government of Free India)—which had been recognized by several foreign powers. Under international law, this status granted them the right to belligerent status, making their military actions acts of legitimate warfare rather than treason or murder.

Popular Mobilization: “Lal Qila se Aayi Awaaz”

The trials triggered unprecedented mass mobilization across urban and rural India, functioning as a second wave of the Quit India movement.

The Campaigns

• Slogans: The streets of major cities echoed with the popular slogan: “Lal Qila se aayi awaaz—Sahgal, Dhillon, Shahnawaz!”
• The INA Relief Fund: The Congress and the public raised significant funds to support the families of the detained soldiers and to cover legal costs.
• Cross-Party Unity: Political parties that rarely agreed—including the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, the Akali Dal, and the Communist Party of India—all demanded the immediate release of the INA prisoners.

Urban Insurrections (November 1945 – February 1946)

• The Calcutta Riots: In November 1945 and February 1946, massive strikes and street battles broke out in Calcutta following the sentencing of INA officer Abdul Rashid. Students, industrial workers, and transport employees brought the city to a standstill.
• The Spread: Similar anti-British demonstrations erupted in Bombay, Delhi, Lahore, and Madras, cutting across communal lines.

The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Revolt and the Break in Military Loyalty

The decisive impact of the INA trials was the breakdown of institutional loyalty within the British Indian Armed Forces. The regular sepoys, who had been exposed to the nationalist arguments publicized during the trials, began to sympathize with their captured counterparts.

The Royal Indian Navy Revolt (February 1946)

• The Trigger: Ratings on the communications training ship HMIS Talwar in Bombay went on a hunger strike against racial discrimination, poor food, and low pay.
• The INA Factor: The strike transformed into a political mutiny when the ratings hoisted the flags of the Congress, the Muslim League, and the Communist Party, openly shouting slogans in praise of Subhas Chandra Bose and demanding the release of all INA prisoners.
• The Scale: The mutiny spread to 78 ships, 20 shore establishments, and over 20,000 ratings across Karachi, Calcutta, Madras, and Vizag.

Auxiliary Mutinies

• Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF): Ground crews and pilots in camps at Ambala, Karachi, and Bombay refused orders and struck in solidarity with both the RIN mutineers and the INA leadership.
• The Jabalpur Army Mutiny: In February 1946, Indian soldiers of the Class Composition regiments in Jabalpur revolted, marking the first time regular ground forces defied British command since the Uprising of 1857.

Historical Facts and Trivia for UPSC Prelims

• The Verdict and Remission: The military court found Shah Nawaz Khan, Sahgal, and Dhillon guilty of waging war against the King-Emperor and sentenced them to deportation for life. However, Commander-in-Chief Claude Auchinleck, recognizing that enforcing the sentence would cause a total mutiny within the Indian army, used his veto power to remit the sentences and release the officers in January 1946.
• The Venue: The Red Fort was chosen by the British because it was the site where the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, had been tried for treason following the 1857 revolt, a choice intended to carry symbolic weight.
• The INA Inquiry Committee: Formed alongside the defense committee, this wing was led by Raghunandan Saran to help locate, rehabilitate, and provide employment to thousands of dismissed INA personnel.
• Auchinleck’s Secret Memorandum: In his confidential report to London, General Auchinleck admitted that the regular Indian soldiers fully sympathized with the INA, confirming that the British could no longer rely on the native military to suppress future civil rebellions.