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International court says no to Netaji's 'war criminal' status

Sujoy Dhar in Calcutta

The International Court of Justice at The Hague has no evidence of ''war criminal'' charges against Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in its archives.

''In the archives of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, which were deposited with the International Court of Justice, no trace could be found of charges against Mr Subhas Chandra Bose,'' wrote Arthur Thwitteveen, secretary of the court in charge of information matters, to noted Oslo-based Bengali economist and Netaji researcher Amalendu Guha in response to the latter's query on the matter.

Prof Amalendu Guha, director of the Oslo-based Institute of Alternative Development Research, had internationally raised the issue of the freedom movement icon's continuing status as ''war criminal.'' He had sought clarification from the chairman of the International Court of Justice on whether the charges of war crime brought against Netaji Subhas Bose by the British government during the Second World War had been withdrawn.

As per the documents of the trial of war criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's name was mentioned as an Indian nationalist opposing Mahatma Gandhi and as one who had declared his sympathy for Germany in the second world war and had accepted an invitation to go to Germany. Hitler associate Keppler was in charge of taking care of Netaji, it said.

Prof Guha had taken up the query in earnest when Union Home Minister L K Advani declared in March this year that Netaji was never declared a war criminal as per the information provided by the British government. Prof Guha wrote to the International Court of Justice after the Supreme Court advocate Bijan Ghosh informed him that the Indian government was trying to prove that Subhash Chandra Bose was never declared a war criminal, though the same was not correct. Ghosh was the same advocate who had earlier challenged the posthumous conferment of Bharat Ratna to Netaji in 1992.

Prof Guha had also written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair last December in this regard to which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had replied that the '' question of Subhas Bose and other INA members was considered in 1945 by the Government of India in consultation with His Majesty's Government and all relevant papers are to be found in Volume VI of the transfer of power series while others are available at the public record office or the British Library.''

''While the British prime minister did not hesitate to reply to my letter on the issue, the highest authorities in India never cared to do so,'' Prof Guha said.

UNI

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