Mercy Petitions of Leaders during British Rule

January 22, 2026

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Petitions were written by various political prisoners during the British era, asking for mercy or an apology to get released from jail.

Here is a list of few (1/n)

Lala Har Dayal :

12 OCT 1928 : Hardayal, Gadar party leader, amnesty petition rejected (2/n).

Maulavi Khairabadi :

Here is Mercy petition of Javed Akhtar's great grandfather Maulavi Khairabadi

Link : https://archive.org/details/MaulviFazleHaqKhairabadi

Khairabadi had claimed that he is being falsely implicated and the person who actually committed the crime has the same name as his.(3/n)

Mercy petition of Amir Chand, Abad Behari, Basant Kumar Biswas and Bal Mokand in delhi lahore conspiracy case. (4/n)

Bipin Chandra Pal :

Bipin Chandra pal (Congress leader and father of revolutionary thought) had asked for "mercy" And determined to give up all connections with Politics and public life . (5/n)

Sachindra Nath Sanyal :

Sachindra Nath Sanyal wrote in his book 'Bandhi Jeevan' that he submitted a similar petition to that of Savarkar , but he was released while Savarkar was not. (6/n)

SA Dange (CPI founder) , Nalini Gupta :

Amrit Dange, Nalini Gupta (both communist) convicted in Bolshevik Conspiracy case too wrote

petition saying that if they were released, they will not commit similar offense in future. (7/n)

Many wrote petitions from cellular jail.

Some are following :

1) Hrishi Kesh Kanjilal

2) Barendra Kumar Ghose

3) Nand Gopal

4) Sudhir Kumar Sarkar

Source : Savarkar: A Contested Legacy , 1924-1966 by Vikram Sampath sir (8/n)

200 Congressi get out of Jail after writing mercy petition

Source : Patel : A life by Raj mohan Gandhi (9/n)

Here is list of more congressi who got out of Jail after writing Mercy Petition (10/n)

Ramprasad Bismil :

Ramprasad Bismil mentioned about his mercy petition in his autobiography

Source : Ramprasad bismil ki Atmakatha (11/n)

Rajendra Lahiri, Roshan Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan (convinced in Kakori case along with Ram Prasad Bismil ) :

Ram Prasad bismil too mentioned about petition submitted by Rajendra Lahiri, Roshan Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan (12/n)

Gandhi :

Gandhi submitted " Apologia " to british govt upon releasing ' Quit India movement '

Source : National Archives (13/n)

Gandhi :

Young India (9-2-1921)

Gandhi's apology to government and the readers for an article on East Africa

“ The language is needlessly offensive.... I offer this apology to the readers and the government” (14/n)

Sushil Kumar Bhadra (forward block) :

He writes,“ Kindly order my immediate release"

(15/n)

Nehru :

Nehru's 2 week stay at Nabha Jail in 1923.He can't withstand Harsh condition.His father run to viceroy signed a bond,secure Nehru's release with a condition that he won't enter Nabha again without permission.(16/n)

Source :TOWARD FREEDOM THE ATUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JL. NEHRU

Syed Mahmud (then CWC member):

During Quit India movement,CWC was jailed & Syed Mahmud apologized, stating that he was never in favor of the movement .He writes,"CONGRESS OWES ITS EXISTENCE TO SOME ENGLISHMEN SO IT SHOULD STAND BY THEM IN THIS HOUR"(17/n)

Petition of release from Bagh Ali Khan ( Detained in Andaman Cellular Jail)

(18/n)

Rajendra Nath Lahiri :

This is about mercy petition of Revolutionary Rajendra Nath Lahiri ( convinced in Kakori Case)

Source: Remember Us Once In a while letters of martyrs (19/n)

Pir Mahbub Shah :

Pir Mahbub shah wrote a petition and offered an apology for his seditious speech given at Tando muhammad khan, Hyderabad (Sindh) (20/n)

https://indianculture.gov.in/archives/hunger-strike-pir-mahbub-shah-who-was-sentenced-two-years-imprisonment-under-section-124

Many were arrested on charges of sedition.They apologized & came out of jail

Ex:

1)Sarado and Hari Charan ( charged under section 124A (sedition))

offered an apology and got released

2)Ganeshi Lal was prosecuted for sedition in 1909 & the case was withdrawn on his apology (21/n)

Many Satyagrahis wrote apology to get out of jail .

Here is mention of apology by one of Satyagrahis (22/n)

There are numerous examples in National archives were Gandhian Satyagrahis were released on apology.

(23/n)

Congress speaker arrested in Yootmal district under defense rule 129 released after his written apology

(24/n)

Congress Leader and freedom fighter C. Subramania Swami wrote a petition in about one week of arrest.

His words: "I have renounced every form of politics, I shall ever be loyal to the British Government and law abiding... May God grant your Excellency a long and happy life." (25/n)

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=spw_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT43&lpg=PT43&dq=Contrary%0Ato+m+y+expectations+however+I+have+been+detained+and%0Aplaced+in+Cuddalore+District+Jail+under+conditions%0Awhich+I+will+not+weary+your+Excellency+by+describing%0Ahere+at+any+length+BUT+which+are+altogether+disagreeable%0Ato+a+man+of+my+birth+and+status+and+full+of+dangerous%0Apossibilities+to+m+y+health.&source=bl&ots=DkmiB8Y522&sig=ACfU3U30oaR1MxFTOeZETDErhVCE1sHZ8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjuJTuv_39AhWoZ2wGHUvzD4UQ6AF6BAgiEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai (congress leader ) has written petitions to Madras govt, British Indian govt., & to the king expressing that he couldn't bear and tolerate inhumane treatment caused to him in prison.

This is from (biography) on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and his prison life has been written by R. Dhanabal (assistant prof in History, govt. Arts college for women, Salem, Tamil Nadu) (26/n)

His sources :