Godse trial site to be tourist attraction

CHANDIGARH: Over six decades after the Mahatma’s assassin Nathuram Godse was tried, The Peterhof hotel in Shimla, where the trial was held in 1948-49, will finally get its due. A portion of it will be used to recreate the trial scene and museum built in it.
“We will use this piece of history to make people aware of the hotel’s heritage. The building will be renovated and a museum set up there.The courtroom scene will be recreated in one portion. An effort is being made to bring back some artefacts of that era, which are lying in other hotels and government buildings, and displayed in the museum,” said Subhasish Panda, managing director, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, which will carry out the project.
“We get numerous inquiries from scholars and visitors. To begin with, we will put up a signboard, which will acknowledge and provide the history of the Godse trial,” said Vijay Sharma, assistant general manager, The Peterhof.
A silent observer to an important period of Indian history, the hotel, which is generally known for being the abode of at least seven viceroys and governor generals during the British rule, also housed the Punjab High Court from October 1947 till 1955 before it got shifted to Chandigarh.
The then Punjab high court had heard the appeal and murder sentence of Godse, the man who murdered the Mahatma on January 30, 1948. The first viceroy to move to The Peterhof was Earl of Elgin in April 1863.
After India’s independence, the high court of united Punjab functioned from this building. After Himachal Pradesh was declared as a state in 1971, this building was turned into Raj Bhawan.
A short circuit led to a fire in the hotel and burnt it down in 1981 but it was restructured in 1991. In 1998, this historical building was turned into a luxury hotel and is managed by HPTDC.