Martyrs of historic 'Hardinge Bomb Case'-- Master Amir Chand, Bhai Bal Mukund, Master Avadh Bihari and Basant Kumar Biswas -- were remembered in the capital with Lt Governor and Delhi Government officials paying floral tributes to them at the Shaheed Smarak Sthal in the complex of Maulana Azad Medical College today.
On December 23, 1912 to mark the entry of the Governor-General of India into the new capital, an imperial procession was taken out in Delhi, with Lord Hardinge seated on a caparisoned elephant.
When the procession was passing through Chandni Chowk, a bomb was thrown on the elephant, killing the mahout. Lord Hardinge escaped with injuries.
Many persons throughout the country, including Master Amir Chand, a school teacher of Delhi, Bhai Balmukund, Master Awadh Behari, Basant Kumar Biswas, Ganeshilal Khasta, Vishnu Ganesh Pingley, Charan Das, Balraj, Lachmi Narain Sharma and Lala Hanwant Sahey, among many others, were arrested. Sharma and Khasta were taken to Varanasi and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Master Amir Chand, Bhai Balmukund and Master Awadh Behari were executed on May 8, 1915 in Delhi Jail and Basant Kumar Biswas was executed the next day on May 9, 1915 in Ambala Central Jail.
In memory of these martyrs, a modest memorial has been raised at the site of "Phansi Ghar" of the old Delhi Jail, now in the complex of Maulana Azad Medical College, where homage is paid every year to these sons of Delhi.
Bhajans were sang to pay homage to the martyrs by the Gandharv Mahavidyalaya vocalists.
