Top 7 Murders - Indian Sub-Continent

Since, I had nothing better to do when taking a shower, evil visited my mind. Lucipher kept asking which were the "7" coolest murder"in the Indian subcontinent in the last 100 odd years. The selection was based on two criteria -
  - Committed by people for whom the descent into hell is easy
  - Condoned by a large section of society and, hence, blurring the difference between Right and Wrong.
These crimes will typically have long lasting impact on several generations to come and crimes that
are of most extraordinary and unprecedented nature.

6) Rangeela Rasool Case - 1927 - Lahore.

On a pleasant afternoon, Sept 6 1920, a poor Muslim Carpenter by name, Mr. Ilmuddin, repeatedly stabs a Hindu Publisher by name Mahashay Rajpal. Why? How did this case become the singular most incident which lead to the division of British Raj and changed the relationship between Hindus and Muslims forever in the sub-continent. For this we need to go back a couple of years......

Arya Samjists were provoked by two publications from Punjabi Muslims which were considered offensive to the religious sensibilities of Hindus and they were titled - "Krishna Teri Geeta Jalani Padegi" and "Unnisvin Sadi Ka Maharishi". The latter had very obnoxious references to Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj.

A man of erudition, Pundit Chamupati vowed to revenge the wrong done. He informed Rajpal that he would write a tract-like simple literature answering back to the Muslims. Mahashay Rajpal Ji supported this scheme wholeheartedly and was itching for a headlong confrontation without costing any lives.

And, the book "Rageela Rasool" ("Playboy Prophet") was published in 1927. No one knew who did the proof reading;
who was the Publisher and which Press finally published it. When published, the book did not enrage anybody.
Nights came but caused no arson and into the glow of a rising sun.

Lo and behold! Riots broke out in parts of Punjab. Who was Agent Provocateur? Enter Mr. Gandhi.

Mr. Gandhi wrote in his weekly paper, "Young India", that local leaders must ensure that "Rangeela Rasool" is
withdrawn from circulation and both the writer and the publisher be punished as per law. Under the pressure of diehard
Sunni Muslims, the government of Punjab chose to file a case against Rajpal.
The legal proceedings went on - District Court, then the Sessions Court and finally the High Court of Punjab.

Rajpal who had been sentenced  to one and a half years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.00 was finally acquitted with honour
by the Punjab High Court. His Lordship (Mr Justice Duleep Singh) agreed with the plea of Rajpal that his book,
Rangeela Rasool contained nothing new and the entire material was borrowed from writings of Islamic scholars. During the
entire course of the trial, Rajpal stood by his promise of not revealving the source of "Rangeela Rasool".

Enter Mr. Ilmuddin and thus ends the life story of Mr. Rajpal.

Enter Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the future founder of Pakistan.....

Mr. Ilmuddin was arrested and jailed. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to death. Punjab Muslims appealed the verdict,
and guess who was the Advocate for Mr. Ilmuddin? Mr. Jinnah, worked on
Ilmuddin’s behalf free of charge. But the day after the appeal was rejected, Ilmuddin was hanged.

Much to the consternation of Hindus, more than a million Muslims from Lahore and the surrounding area thronged the
funeral, and the carpenter was given a honorific name, "Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed". Muhammad Iqbal, one of the key founders
of Pakistan, personally placed Ilmuddin’s body in the grave with tears in his eyes.
“This carpenter left us, educated men, behind,” he said.

By this time, the polarization between the Hindus and Muslims was complete and led to the division of British Raj.

Impact on Modern day! -

a) It may be mentioned that an international organisation based in Geneva,
International Publication federation decided in 1998 to honour Mr Rajpal for making the supreme sacrifice
to uphold the Right of Publishing

b) The book remains banned in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

c) During the protracted trial, the issue became a cause celebre for the Muslims of entire India.
And to avoid such ominous troubles in future, the British Raj introduced the Blasphemy Law in its Penal Code in 1927.
The U.K. government repealed it in only in 2008.