Assassination of JP Saunders
The HSRA decided to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai in a police lathi charge (a form of crowd control in which the police use heavy staves or `lathis' in Hindi) in November 1928 by assassinating J A Scott, the Superintendent of Police, Lahore who had ordered the lathi-charge. The plan was to be executed by Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hari Rajguru, Azad and Jai Gopal. The assassination attempt was carried out on 17 December 1928 in Lahore. It was planned that Jai Gopal would give a signal to Bhagat Singh and Rajguru as soon as Scott came of his office. However, Jai Gopal misidentified J. P. Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent of Police as Scott and gave the signal. Saunders was shot dead by Bhagat Singh and Raj Guru. A head constable was also killed while trying to chase the shooters. The next day the HSRA acknowledged the assassination by putting up posters in Lahore that read
| “ | JP Saunders is dead; Lala Lajpat Rai is avenged.... In this man has died an agent of the British authority in India.... Sorry for the bloodshed of the human being, but the sacrifice of individuals at the altar of revolution...is inevitable | ” |
Read more about this topic: Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
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