Hari Kishan Talwar

Hari Kishan was born on 2 January 1908. He hailed from the small feudal village of Jalandhar in Mardan district of North-West Frontier Province. He inherited his love for freedom from his father, Lala Gurudas Mal, a hunter who trained his son in marksmanship. Hari Kishan's mother name was Mathura. He instilled in his children a hatred against foreign rule and all the atrocital policies of the white rulers. There was thunder in the air, and the country's youth was afire with revolutionary thoughts.

Young Hari Kishan followed Bhagat Singh and others in Lahore conspiracy case and Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan in Kakori conspiracy case. The court statements of Bhagat Singh made a great impact on mind. He became convinced that only a revolution brought about by brave self sacrificing youth could wrest independence from the British Empire.^{[citation needed]} He felt that he could not remain aloof while the country's manhood was being put to test.

Hari Kishan had two elder brothers Bhagat Ram Talwar and Kishori Lal Talwar and two younger brothers Jamna Das Talwar and Anant Ram Talwar. The entire Talwar family were devoted followers of Khudai Khidmatgar led by Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi.^[2]

Hari Kishan came into contact with a few like-minded young men who had decided to assassinate the notorious Sir Geoffrey de Montmorency, Governor of Punjab. The date was 23 December 1930. The convocation of the University of the Punjab had just concluded between 1:15 and 1:20 p.m. and the Vice Chancellor requested the Chancellor to declare the function closed. When it was done, the procession started, strictly maintaining the order of precedence. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was also present to deliver his address at the university.^{[citation needed]}

Hari Kishan entered the hall without the necessary pass, some time before the visitors had started dribbling in. He was seen sitting all the time in the visitors' gallery, in European dress. When Sir Geoffrey had gone a few paces forward, Hari Kishan stood up in his seat with a revolver in his hand and fired two shots in quick succession, one of which caused a flesh wound in the left arm of the Governor and the other caused a gazing wound to his back. Hari Kishan explained later that the shots had been erratic because the chair on which he was standing was placed on uneven ground and tilted when he pulled the trigger. Although the Governor alone was the target of the attack, there ensued panic in the hall and the audience ran helter skelter for safety.^{[citation needed]}

As Dr. Radhakrishnan later recalled, a young boy of twenty-one tried to 'save' him, when Hari Kishan was trying to shoot the Governor. Hari Kishan is said to have told the future President of free India that he could not take the risk of "hitting Dr. Saheb".^{[3][better source needed]}

The police on duty rushed to apprehend Hari Kishan. Not heeding his warning, Sub-Inspector Chanan Singh advanced towards him. Hari Kishan called out to the police officer to stand back with the promise that he would not try to escape. But Chanan Singh did not stop and was about to pounce upon Hari Kishan when he fired again, hitting Chanan Singh, who later that day died from his injuries in the Mayo Hospital.^[4] Sub-Inspector Wardhawan also advanced towards Hari Kishan, and was shot in the thigh. Wardhawan fell on the ground, bleeding profusely. In the chaos an Englishwoman, Dr. Medermott, also received injuries.^{[5][better source needed]}

All his six bullets spent, Hari Kishan tried to reload his revolver, but he was overpowered and whisked away. He was beaten mercilessly. Later he was taken to the dreaded torture cells of the Lahore Fort and in that cold winter, was made to lie between the slabs of ice.^{[citation needed]}

For fourteen days he was subjected to most brutal police treatment. His head was struck against the stone wall and blood streamed from his skull. Yet, when his father, Gurudas Mal saw Hari Kishan in the Fort for first time after his arrest, for identification purposes, the first question that the old patriot (his father) asked his son in Pashto language, was not about his physical condition; the father wanted to know how he missed the target, after so much hard training in shooting. Hari Kishan smiled and told how the jerky chair had let him down.^{[citation needed]}