---
title: "Red Fort Trials of INA (1945): The Courts-Martial"
description: "The Red Fort Trials of INA (1945) were courts-martial for treason against Indian National Army officers, highlighting colonial tensions in India."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/red-fort-trials-1945"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Red Fort Trials were the 1945-46 courts-martial of Indian National Army officers for treason, prosecuted by the British Indian government at Delhi's Red Fort.
- Why were the INA officers tried at the Red Fort specifically?
- What was the central legal argument of the INA Defence Committee?
- Were the convicted officers actually punished?
- How did the Red Fort Trials affect British rule in India?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

The Red Fort Trials were the 1945-46 courts-martial of Indian National Army officers for treason, prosecuted by the British Indian government at Delhi's Red Fort.

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## Positions at a glance

### Indian National Congress

The first and most celebrated trial, beginning 5 November 1945, was the joint prosecution of three officers chosen, deliberately, to represent India's principal communities: Colonel Prem Sahgal (Hindu), Major General Shah Nawaz Khan (Muslim), and Lieutenant Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (Sikh). The defence was mounted by the INA Defence Committee, an extraordinary panel assembled by the Indian National Congress that included Bhulabhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali, Kailash Nath Katju, and — making his courtroom return after decades — Jawaharlal Nehru, who donned barrister's robes for the occasion. Desai's central argument invoked international law: that the INA constituted the army of a recognised provisional government, the Azad Hind, and that its members were therefore lawful belligerents entitled to the protections of the laws of war rather than traitors subject to municipal treason law. Subsequent trials of other officers, including those charged with the brutal execution of subordinates, proceeded through the winter of 1945-46.

### All-India Muslim League

The political reaction in the principal cities was immediate and overwhelming. In Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Lahore, the slogan "Lal Qile se aayi awaz — Sahgal, Dhillon, Shah Nawaz" became a rallying cry, and the Muslim League, the Congress, and the Communist Party briefly converged in support of the accused. Demonstrations in Calcutta in November 1945 left scores dead in clashes with police. The naval mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay in February 1946, and disturbances within the Royal Indian Air Force, were understood by the colonial administration as evidence that the loyalty of the Indian armed forces — the ultimate guarantor of British rule — could no longer be relied upon. The court convicted Sahgal, Shah Nawaz, and Dhillon and sentenced them to transportation for life, but Auchinleck, weighing the threat to military discipline and the inflamed public mood, remitted the sentences in January 1946.

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In November 1945 the British Indian government tried INA officers Prem Sahgal, Shah Nawaz Khan and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon at the Red Fort, with Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhulabhai Desai leading the defence committee.

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