Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking 'status of martyr' for freedom fighters

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking the 'status of martyr' for freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were hanged by the British in 1931.

A two-bench judge headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said, "The plea is dismissed", adding that it cannot issue such directions.

The petitioner failed to reply when asked under which law the court has the power to issue such directions.

The plea was filed by advocate Birender Sangwan.

"The grant of 'martyr status' is very much essential for a martyr and it is the legal right of a martyr to have such a status declared to them, thus it is an expression of gratitude towards them," the plea read.

Bhagat Singh and Rajguru had in 1928 fatally shot a British junior police officer, John Saunders, at Lahore in present day Pakistan, mistaking him for a British police superintendent.

A special tribunal was constituted by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, which had sentenced the duo along with Sukhdev to death by hanging at Lahore Jail.