Trial of Gandhiji

About The Book

This is the reprint of the original publication Trial of Gandhiji, giving details regarding the court proceedings, by the High Court of Gujarat. It was published in 1965. Much has been written about that epic trial, and, it is still being debated. That great trial led to a new chapter in India’s struggle for freedom. It indeed involved an unprecedented and profound issue raised by Mahatma Gandhi in four articles he wrote in Young India, and, subsequently he was tried for three articles; two of 1921 and one of 1922. The issue he had raised then was that of obedience to one’s duty (as one felt listening to one’s inner voice) as against one’s obedience to state-made law; and in latter case the state, in Gandhiji’s political philosophy has been brute and barbaric, based on coercive and exploitative power. And for him ‘Truth was the highest law and non-violence was the highest duty’, and, therefore, for him resisting such state was the highest moral duty of a non-cooperator. In the statement he gave during the trial, Gandhiji, exhorted the Judge Broomfield to do his best by awarding the highest penalty to him. The trial was held on March 18, 1922. It lasted for less than two hours.