January 3,1946: INA defendants walk free after trial that gripped India

On January 3,1946, a drama unfolded in the Red Fort in Delhi. It meant freedom for the three men involved and deeply influenced the freedom struggle for hundreds of millions more in British India.

That morning, Major-General Shah Nawaz Khan and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Prem Kumar Sahgal of the Indian National Army were asked to go down to an office in the Red Fort.

They were the defendants in the first INA trial held by the British after World War II ended, accused of waging war against the king.

They had been imprisoned in Salimgarh Fort, which adjoined the Red Fort. They were probably expecting the worst. Instead, they were told that they had been sentenced to life – but that the sentence had been commuted. They were released immediately.

The announcement was so unexpected, there was no one to greet them outside the Red Fort.

They made their own way to a friend’s home Once they got there, they had to identify themselves to be let in.

When the news made its way to the world, India rejoiced. In newspapers across the country, their release was hailed as a victory for India’s freedom movement.

Khan, Dhillon and Sahgal were senior officers of the Indian National Army – a Muslim,...