Pandit Jagat Narain Mulla (14 December 1864 in Kashmir – 11 December 1938) was a prominent lawyer and public prosecutor in United Provinces during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. He served as the public prosecutor on behalf of the British in the Kakori case. The Kakori Incident involved Pandit

Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil (; 11 June 1897 – 19 December 1927) was an Indian poet, writer, and revolutionary who fought against British Raj, participating in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori Conspiracy of 1925. He composed in Urdu and ...

Roshan Singh Thakur Roshan Singh (22 January 1892 – 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary, born in the village of Nabada in Shahjahanpur district of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh) in a Rajput family, who was sentenced in the Bareilly shooting ...

Ashfaqulla Khan Ashfaqulla Khan (22 October 1900 – 19 December 1927) was a freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement against British rule and the co-founder of the Hindustan Republican Association, later to become the Hindustan Socialist Republic ...

, and eight other revolutionaries who planned to rob the government treasury from a train at Kakori station near Lucknow to fund an armed revolution in India.

Early and personal life

Jagat Narain Mulla was born to Pandit Kali Sahay Mulla;

Kashmiri Pandits The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha-Gauda, Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located w ...

held a government position in the United Provinces, allowing Jagat Narayan to receive his education there. He completed his law studies at

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university, formerly named as Agra University, was later named after Bhimrao Ambedkar. Affiliated colleges The U ...

and started his legal practice in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, quickly gaining a reputation among the prominent lawyers of his time. He served as the Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University for three years. He maintained close relationships with notable figures such as

Pandit Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch o ...

, Babu Ganga Prasad Verma, C. Y. Chintamani and Bishan Narayan Dar. He was the father of

Anand Narain Mulla Anand Narain Mulla (October 1901 – 13 June 1997) was an Indian Urdu poet. He served as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Life Anand Narain Mulla was born at Lucknow in the North-Western Provinces of Brit ...

, an

Urdu poet Urdu poetry ( ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the culture of India and Pakistan. According to Naseer Turabi, there are five major poets of Urdu: Mir Taqi Mir (d. 1810), Mirza Ghalib (d. ...

and a Member of Parliament in independent India.

Career

Jagat Narain Mulla was the Chairman of the Reception Committee of the Lucknow session of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

in 1916 and served as the President of the Lucknow Municipality for 15 years. He was also a member of the Hunter Commission, which was formed to investigate the

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (), also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Vaisakhi, Baisakhi fair to protest aga ...

; as one of the three Indian members of the committee, he expressed disagreement with the report's findings. Following the

Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more concisely the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, the Sec ...

, he was elected as a member of the United Provinces Legislative Council and appointed Minister for Local Self-Government. Additionally, he served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lucknow for three years, contributing to the institution's growth and prominence. Furthermore, he was the public prosecutor in the Kakori Conspiracy Case of 1926, where he successfully proved the involvement of the Hindustan Republican Association (

HRA HRA may refer to: Health and medicine * Health risk assessment * Health Reimbursement Account or Arrangement, US * Health Research Authority, UK Sport * Home runs allowed * Horseracing Regulatory Authority, now merged into the British Horsera ...

) in the robbery.

Demise

In his later years, Jagat Narayan Mulla's health deteriorated, leading him to seek treatment in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He passed away on 11 December 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulla, Jagat Narain 1864 births 1938 deaths Kashmiri people Kashmiri Pandits Kashmiri Brahmins 19th-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian lawyers Lawyers in British India People from the United Provinces of British India