Pandit Ram Rakha
Pandit Ram Rakha, was one of the prominent freedom fighters who endured life imprisonment in the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
He played a significant role in India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule. His revolutionary activities and his involvement in promoting Indian nationalism led him to be arrested and transported to the Cellular Jail in 1909. Despite the harsh conditions of the jail, he continued to inspire fellow inmates and ignited the spirit of patriotism. His ideas contributed to shaping the nationalist discourse of the time.
His contributions to India’s independence movement and his unwavering determination even in the face of extreme adversity have made him a revered figure in the history of India’s fight for freedom.
He was born in Hoshiarpur, on 23 February 1884. He was an Indian revolutionary and a member of the Ghadr party from Punjab. He was known for his active involvement in the Burma conspiracy case. Ram Rakha was sent to the Andaman Cellular Jail to serve his sentence. He was given inhuman torture, by the British, as he came into conflict with the prison authorities for not submitting to the humiliating conditions and resisting the inhuman treatment to which the prisoners were subjected to. The prison authorities tried to take away his sacred thread. As he was a Hindu Brahmin, he protested against this. He was mercilessly assaulted for forcing him to submission. In protest, he resorted to hunger strike. Before he succumbed, he had been vomiting blood, but nothing could be forced down his throat to make him live. He expired on 22 December 1919, at a tender age of 35 years.
Pandit Ram Rakha was the son of Jawahir Ram, a resident of Hoshiarpur, Punjab. He worked in association with Sohanlal Pathak for creating a revolt among Indian soldiers of British army in Burma. Malaya and Singapore. Along with other three companions, Mujtaba Husain, Amar Singh, Ali Ahmed, they travelled to Burma and started to deliver the message of freedom movement of India in Burma. Ram Rakha engaged himself in collecting materials for the manufacture of bombs, which he had to secure from Bangkok, where they were available. He was absent when the mutiny broke out, but reached Singapore only a few days after the event.
He believed that once the revolution had started the Germans would not be very late in coming to help them. A resolution was taken in Rangoon to cause the uprising on Bakri Id day, 1915, which had to be abandoned at the last moment due to paucity of arms and ammunition. This was postponed to the Christmas and it never came to pass. Acting on information gathered in connection with the first Mandalay conspiracy case, the police arrested the four revolutionaries at different times not very distant from one another and started the Mandalay conspiracy case in 1917. The trial commenced on March 28, in Mandalay and the accused were charged with the offence of waging war against the King, conspiracy, tampering with the allegiance of the army etc.
Evidence covered many aspects of the Ghadr party in U.S.A, German collaboration in the rebellion, connection with the Indian revolutionaries and the individual responsibility of the accused persons.Judgement was delivered on July 6, 1917, and :- (1) Mujtaba Husain of Jaipur, (2) Amar Singh of Ludhiana, (3) Ali Ahmed Sadiq of Faizabad district, were condemned to death. Ram Rakha was sentenced to transportation for life. All property belonging to the accused were confiscated to the state. The Lieutenant Governor in reviewing the case on appeal confirmed the judgment with modification regarding forfeiture of property. A Rangoon press Note issued on December 7, 1917, announced that the death sentence of each accused had been commuted to one of transportation for life by the Governor General in Council.
