BSF may return Bhagat Singh’s pistol to Punjab

The Border Security Force (BSF) may return Bhagat Singh’s pistol to Punjab soon.

The Border Security Force (BSF) may return Bhagat Singh’s pistol to Punjab soon.

The last bullet fired from the .32-mm Colt automatic pistol killed British assistant superintendent of police John Saunders on December 17, 1928.

Chandigarh-based advocate HC Arora, who filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking retrieval of the pistol, said on Thursday that the BSF authorities are “very actively” considering the demand.

The BSF’s verbal response came on Wednesday during the resumed hearing. The BSF sought time till May 22 to file a response.

In March, the high court issued a notice to Punjab, the Government of India and the BSF on the public interest litigation (PIL) by Arora, seeking the retrieval of the pistol from the BSF museum in Indore for display at the museum in Khatkar Kalan, the martyr’s birthplace.

Arora said the pistol was requisitioned by the BSF from the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur in October 1969, where it was lying since 1944 on being received from the senior superintendent of Lahore.

The last bullet fired from the .32-mm Colt automatic pistol killed British assistant superintendent of police John Saunders on December 17, 1928.

Arora said the pistol was requisitioned by the BSF from the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur in October 1969, where it was lying since 1944 on being received from the senior superintendent of Lahore.

In November 2016, an English daily reported about the pistol being displayed at the BSF museum in Indore.