Govt sends 304 declassified files of Subhas Chandra Bose to archives

The records were received from four departments of the government, says Mahesh Sharma

The National Archives of India has received 304 declassified records or files related to Subhas Chandra Bose, the government informed Parliament on Monday.

The records were received from four departments of the government, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha about records pertaining to Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj received by the Archives.

The Prime Minister's Office had sent over 58 files, the Ministry of External Affairs sent 200 such files, the Ministry of Home Affairs sent 37 and the cabinet secretariat sent nine, he said.

He, however, did not say when the files were sent.

Sharma said out of the 304 files, 303 had already been uploaded on the webportal www.Netajipaper.Gov.In.

In 1997, the National Archives of India had received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) from the defence ministry, Sharma said.

In 2012, 271 files and items pertaining to the Khosla Commission and 759 items from the Justice Mukherjee Commission of inquiry from the home ministry were sent to the National Archives, he said. The commissions dealt with Bose's disappearance.

"All these files or items are already open to the public under the Public Records Rules, 1997," Sharma said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his meeting with members of Bose's family at his residence in New Delhi on October 14, 2015, had announced that the government would declassify files relating to the freedom fighter in a phased manner, and make them accessible to the public.

The government declassified the first set of 100 files in January last year.