FIRST JUDICIAL MURDER BY BRITISH SUPREME COURT IN CALCUTTA.

MAHARAJ NANDA KUMAR HANGED.

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

 

Maharaja NANDA KUMAR was hanged to death by Britishers of East India Company, on 5^th August, 1775, after a FAKE, BOGUS and Partisan Judicial Trial in newly established Supreme Court in Calcutta.

But we need to know the details, before we put a seal on our concluding statement.

In 1773, Regulating Act was passed by the British Parliament. It was passed for providing Judicial Governance  in the  Indian territories  militarily, and administratively  governed by the British East India Company, primarily in Bengal. 

One of the important requirements of the Act was to constitute a Supreme Court having four English judges, to be located in FORT WILLIUM, in the then CALCUTTA. As a result of this Act coming into force, the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Kolkata was founded in 1774. A charter issued by King George III appointed Sir Elijah Impey as the Chief Justice and Robert Chambers, John Hyde, and Stephen Caesar Lemaistre, as puisne judges.

It may be stated that this Act, along with the Supreme Court was the first attempt to establish a somewhat independent judicial institution in India, under the king’s direct control. But in the era of this Act of 1773, Raja NANDA KUMAR’s trial, which is also known as the ‘the first judicial murder’ in India under Company’s rule, was a    TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE, and one of the many black spots Britishers have to live with. 

A brief about Raja NANDA KUMAR: -

Raja NANDA KUMAR, also known as Maharajah Nuncomar, was borne in 1705, at BHADRAPUR village in BIRBHUM. He was a Hindu Brahmin of the highest rank. He was very intelligent, and studied Arabic, and Farsi—was proficient in both the languages He was given the title ‘Maharaja’ by Shah Alam II in the year 1764. He was a big zamindar. He worked for the Nawab of Bengal in a variety of capacities, mostly as a revenue collector. He was made the Governor of Hugli under Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah in 1756. 

He had earned the confidence of the Murshidabad Durbar. Nand Kumar had participated in the Battle of Plassey with Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah. The Nawabs admired him. After holding a succession of posts under native governments of Bengal, owing to his loyalty pledged towards the English, East India Company later, he was awarded the name “Black Colonel” during Governor General Robert Clive’s period. In 1758, he was even appointed by Lord Robert Clive as an agent to collect revenues for the districts of Burdwan, Hooghly, and Nadia. He was a very influential person in Bengal.

But this was the beginning of CONFLICT with Mr. Warren Hastings. Mr. Clive removed Mr. Hastings, from the same post and appointed Mr. NANDA KUMAR.

Hastings was seething with rage and was looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

Mr. Clive left for ENLAND and Mr. Hastings was appointed as Governor General in 1773.

Raja NANDA Kumar brought several charges against Governor-General Warren Hastings. The charges were related to the offenses of bribery and corruption.

Charges against Hastings, and trial: -

Warren Hastings was appointed as the Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Calcutta in 1772, and directors of the Company further limited his powers by establishing a council of four members who had similar authority as he did. The four council members were Clavering, Francis, Monson, and Barnwell. Out of the four, the first three were against the governor-general and only Barnwell was in his favour. 

NANDA KUMAR was sidelined when the seat of administration shifted from Murshidabad to Calcutta and the task of actual governance went in the hands of the British officials of the company. The council members except Barnwell instigated that NANDA KUMAR to accuse Hastings of bribery and corruption before the Council. Thus, when Mr. Francis arrived in the city, NANDA KUMAR presented a letter to him listing the Munni Begam case- it was stated that Hastings had accepted a bribe of Rs. 2.5 lakhs from Munni Begam to appoint her as the guardian of the minor Nawab Mubarak-Ud-Daulah.  He also stated that Hastings had accepted bribery of more than 1 lakh from him to appoint Gurudas, his son, as Diwan.

After Francis presented the letter at the council meeting, Monson moved a motion for NANDA KUMAR to appear before the council meeting. Warren Hastings was presiding over the council at that time and opposed the move. Mr. Barnwell suggested that NANDA Kumar should file his complaints before the Supreme Court and not before the council as according to him, the Court was competent to hear this case. The majority members objected to the action and then elected Clavering to preside over the meeting instead of Hastings.

When NANDA KUMAR was called before the council to prove his charges against Hastings, the majority of the council declared that the charges against Hastings were right. As a result of this, Hastings was directed to deposit the amount of Rs 3,54,105/- in the company’s treasury. This event was the MAIN REASON that made Hastings a bitter enemy of NANDA KUMAR and now he looked for an opportunity to take revenge. 

Charges against Maharaj NANDA KUMAR: -

At the instance of Warren Hastings and his favourite council member Barnwell, Raja NANDA KUMAR, Fawkes, and Radha Charan charged for criminal conspiracy against East India Company, and all the three were arrested for prosecution at Supreme Court.

Hastings further thought that it may not be possible to prove the conspiracy, so he brought another charge against NANDA KUMAR-- in furtherance he demanded Mohan Prasad to file a case of forgery against NANDA KUMAR-- in connection to a deed or bond which was executed by Raja NANDA KUMAR in 1765 and was claimed as an acclamation and ratification of a debt from a banker, Bulaki Das.

According to The English Act of 1729, Forgery Was a Capital Offense, and calls for Capital Punishment, if proved.

The judgment was reserved for NANDA KUMAR whereas Fawkes was fined. I don’t know what was the decision against Radha Charan--- going through the documents at Victoria Memorial, and National Library at Kolkata—I found no information.

THE TRIAL: --

The trial against Raja NANDA KUMAR for forgery and conspiracy ran concurrently, starting from 8th June morning, continuously, every day, and ending at the midnight of 15th June 1775.

The Judgement: -

The matter was summarized on the morning of 16th June 1775 by Chief Justice Impey. Raja NANDA Kumar was held unanimously “guilty” by judges and the jury also gave the same verdict. He was incarcerated to death by the Chief Justice under the English Act of 1729 of the British Parliament. The then Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissed the ‘conspiracy case’ as they did not have any evidence against Raja NANDA Kumar. 

Attempts made to save Maharaj: -

• Raja NANDA Kumar’s advocate forwarded an appeal to the King-in-Council. He also filed a petition in the court for holding the verdict till the time the Council’s decision was not established but it was rejected by the court. 
• Efforts to seek the aid and support of the members of COUNCIL was rebuffed.
• The letter of suggestion from the Nawab to the Council to defer the sentence till His Majesty’s pleasure was known proved to be nugatory as well because the Supreme Court took no cognizant undertaking on it after it was delivered by the Council.

EXECUTION: -

Therefore, MAHARAJ NANDA KUMAR was hanged on August 5, 1775, at 8 o’clock in the morning at the Cooly Market near Fort William and close to the modern Hastings Bridge. 

NANDA KUMAR expressed his desire to die near Adi Ganga so that the final rites can be performed at its ghats because of which the well was dug up ostensibly for his hanging. At the time of execution, the seventy-year-old prisoner’s hands were tied and he walked with difficulty on the stairs due to weakness in his knees.

The quoted words by Bar and Bench: “Nand Kumar’s trial was a manifestation of this diabolical cocktail of connivance between the then executive and the judiciary,” clearly reflect the state of our country during the pre-independence period particularly concerning the case of the judicial murder of Raja Nand Kumar. 

Legal Flaws: -

1.0  Chief Justice Impey being a close friend of Warren Hastings, and there was conflict of interest,

2.0  judges cross-examining the witnesses themselves,

3.0  the petition presented to the King’s council being rejected by the Supreme Court,

4.0  The fact that even after forgery not being considered as a crime by neither Hindus nor Muslims, as per the legal practice of Country—INDIA, and,

5.0  Deed was executed in 1765, but the Supreme Court was constituted in 1773—hence Supreme Court had no Jurisdiction over the Forgery case happened in the past.

Reaction of the native people: -

The hanging of the Brahmin is believed to have caused “horror” and “consternation” among the gathering natives. Many Hindus were appalled and bathed in the holy Ganges to wash away the sin of seeing the event. Several Brahmins households even protested the hanging and left Calcutta.

Trial Of Hastings, and Impey in London: -

The trial of Raja Nand Kumar is historically significant because it was a primary ground for the impeachment of Chief Justice Impey and Governor-General Warren Hastings by the House of Commons after they returned to England. Despite being chastised by famous statesmen Edmund Burke and Lord Macaulay, Hastings was cleared of all accusations after 19 years.  Impey was absolved before.

At the present time, Victoria Memorial authorities are putting Nand Kumar’s turban on display.

References and further reading: -

•  The London Gazette. – BRITISH LIBRARY
•  James Fitz & James Stephen, The Story of Nuncomar and the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey (1885). --- Available in National Library.
•          Legal service in India--article-4665
•          Hicky's Bengal Gazette. —National Library, Kolkata
•          Archives of Victoria Museum—Kolkata
•          The Trial of Maharaja Nanda Kumar, a Narrative of a Judicial Murder.... Author, Henry Beveridge. Publisher, Thacker, Spink and Company, 1886.