Previous Year Question
Under whose chairmanship a committee was formed to defend the accused in Kakori Case?
Acharya Narendra Dev
Govind Ballabh Pant
Chandrabhanu Gupta
Motilal Nehru
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
The Kakori Train Action took place on 9 August 1925 near Kakori, close to Lucknow. Revolutionaries of the Hindustan Republican Association seized the government treasury being transported by train.
Prominent revolutionaries associated with the action included Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Nath Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sachindra Nath Bakshi and Manmath Nath Gupta, among others.
After the British Government arrested and prosecuted a large number of revolutionaries, a Defence Committee was organised to provide them legal assistance. The committee was led by Govind Ballabh Pant.
An important distinction is that Motilal Nehru played an important role in forming the Defence Committee, but the available institutional historical account describes it as a Defence Committee led by Govind Ballabh Pant.
Lawyers such as Mohan Lal Saxena and Chandra Bhanu Gupta were also associated with the defence. Pant himself was one of the prominent lawyers connected with the legal defence of the Kakori accused.
At the conclusion of the case, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Roshan Singh were sentenced to death. Bismil, Ashfaqulla and Roshan Singh were executed on 19 December 1927, while Rajendra Nath Lahiri was executed earlier on 17 December 1927.
Therefore, the correct answer regarding the leadership of the committee formed to defend the accused in the Kakori Case is Govind Ballabh Pant.