ALIPORE BOMB CASE-1908-09

The Alipore or Manicktolla Bomb Case was an important Court Trial in the history of  India’s Freedom Struggle. The Partition of Bengal sparked public anger against the British which led to nationalist campaign by groups of revolutionaries, led by Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose and Bagha Jatin forming a group 'Yugantar'. Hemchandra Kanungo, trained at Paris, provided the technical inputs of making bombs. 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 (alias Dinesh Roy) attempted to kill Magistrate Kingsford. However, the bomb missed its target and killed two British women, the wife and daughter of Barrister Pringle Kennedy. On May 2, 1908, Police arrested initial 33 suspects after raiding the property of Aurobindo Ghosh and Manicktolla garden premises. Many activists, including Aurobindo Ghosh were arrested on charges of planning and conspiracy and were imprisoned in a solitary confinement in Alipore Jail. After an intense man-hunt, Khudiram Bose was arrested but Prafulla Chaki shot himself. The trial soon began against the 49 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 (1908-1909), and Khudiram was found guilty and later hanged. On May 6, 1909, Judge Beachcroft delivered the verdict involving over 36 suspects. Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Ullaskar Dutta were awarded death sentences but later commuted to life and deported to Cellular Jail along with others. They were repatriated from Port Blair to various Jails in mainland India, except Hem Chandra Das, Ullaskar Dutta and Indu Bhushan Roy. Hem Chandra Das was repatriated in 1920. As a result of the physical and psychological torture on these Political Prisoners, Indu Bhushan Roy committed suicide on 28 April 1912 and Ullaskar Dutta became insane and was repatriated in 1913.

In this case following Political Prisioners were deported to the Cellular Jail in Andamans. Their Permanent Incarceration No and other details are as under:-

1.	31549	Barindra Kumar Ghosh	Dr. K.D Ghosh	Hooghly, Bengal
2.	31552	Ullaskar Dutta	Dwija Das Dutta	Shibpur, Bengal
3.	31596	Upendra Nath Banerjee	Rama Nath Banerjee	French Chandernagar, Bengal
4.	31551	Bhibhuti Bhushan Sarkar	Sarada Sarkar	Nadia, Bengal
5.	31550	Hrishikesh Kanjilal	Alishanath Kanjilal	Shrirampore, Bengal
6.	31801	Birendra Chandra Sen alias Durga Das	Kailash Chandra Sen	Sylhet, Assam
7.	31597	Sudhir Kumar Sarkar	-	Bengal
8.	31554	Abinash Chandra Bhattacharjee	Uma Chandra Bhattacharjee	Sinthee, Calcutta
9.	31553	Hem Chandra Das Kanungo	Chetra Mohan Das	Midnapore, Bengal
10.	31555	Indu Bhushan Roy	Taraknath Roy	Khulna, Bengal
11.	NA	Nirpada Roy	Rajani Kanta Roy	Nadia, Bengal