Kakori martyr barrack makes way for hospital

ALLAHABAD: When the entire nation is paying homage to martyrs Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Thakur Roshan Singh, who were hanged on December 19, 1927, for the Kakori incident, the district authorities have failed to conserve a historic site associated with Roshan Singh in the heart of the city.

Singh, who was kept in Malaka Jail, which presently houses SRN Hospital of MNL Medical College, was hanged in one of the barracks. The jail building has been demolished and a new building for super-specialty facility is being constructed at the site.

Singh was a member of the organisation founded by Chandra Shekhar Azad. he was punished by the Britishers for his role in Kakori incident when a train from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow was looted in Kakori. Despite protests by the defence com mittee, which was chaired by Motilal Nehru, Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Rajendra Lahiri and Thakur Roshan Singh were sentenced to death.

“We feel ashamed that despite our efforts, we failed to have a memorial. There is a memorial at

Faizabad

jail where Ashfaqullah was hanged and in Gorakhpur where Bismil was hanged,“

Raju Jaiswal

, son of a freedom fighter, said.

Principal of MNL Medical College, Dr SP Singh said “We have approached the administration for installing a statute in the new building.“