Plea to acquire papers of Bhagat Singh’s trial from Pakistan

India must at least obtain digital copies of documents held in Lahore archives, says Prof. Chaman Lal.

A former senate member of Punjab University and honorary advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi Professor Chaman Lal has urged the Punjab government to take up the issue of acquiring files relating to the court cases of Bhagat Singh presently at the Punjab Archives in Anarkali tomb, Lahore in Pakistan. Professor Lal, in a letter to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh through Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, has pointed out that it is well known that Punjab Archives in Anarkali tomb in Lahore (Pakistan) has many files relating to the court cases of Bhagat Singh. “Its numbers were mentioned from 135 to 165. Scholars, including me, visiting this archive have not been shown these files. However, situation has now changed for the better. On March 23, 2018, for the first time Lahore archives held a month-long exhibition of more than 200 items from the Bhagat Singh files. There was a plan to digitize these files,” he wrote. He added that in a latest book on The Execution of Bhagat Singh by Barrister Satvinder Juss, Professor of Law at Kings College London, has for the first time produced the details of 160 files relating to Bhagat Singh’s case.