UK has 31articles, not 4, of Udham Singh, reveals RTI

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25

Contrary to the belief that only four items belonging to martyr Udham Singh — a revolver, ammunition, a cobbler’s knife and diaries — are in the possession of the British government, a recent RTI query has revealed that at least 31 various articles of the martyr are in possession of the British authorities for the past over 76 years.

British documents mentioned such articles as “list of properties found in possession of prisoner Mohammad Singh Azad”. The martyr’s birthday will be observed in Punjab on Monday.

The information came to the fore after Union Ministry of External Affairs recently disclosed the copies of the communication the Indian High Commission in the UK had with the British government seeking details of the martyr’s belongings.

The copies have been recently provided in response to an RTI query filed by Banur-based RTI activist Karnvir Shetty Thamman.

However, in its communication to the Indian High Commission, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, in 2004, revealed that of the total items, only diaries, revolver, cobbler’s knife and ammunition were in the possession of the Metropolitan Police. But barring the four items, the whereabouts of other belongings were not revealed.

In the same communication, the British authorities had said: “The Metropolitan Police do not hold other personal effects listed and do not know of their whereabouts.”

All such items were recovered from Udham Singh after his arrest in 1940 when he shot dead Michael O’Dwyer in Caxton Hall, UK, in 1940. Meanwhile, belying claims of the SAD-BJP government over its efforts to bring the martyr’s belongings back, another RTI reply by Ministry of External Affairs to Sunam-based RTI activist Jatinder Jain revealed that the latest effort by the Punjab Government in this regard was made in 2004.

No official communication has been sent to the UK by the Punjab government after that.