Sarah village's hero who showed the British their place

Lalit Mohan

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Dharamsala, August 13

Even though the country is celebrating 75 years of independence, there are many heroes who had raised their voice against the British, but their services were never recognised.

One such freedom fighter, Hawaldar Harnam Singh, from Sarah village, located about 2 km from Dharamsala, is remembered by locals as a soldier who fought against the British valiantly.

He is still remembered as a hero, but the government is yet to acknowledge his contribution in the freedom struggle. The village panchayat of Sarah has written to the state government to take an initiative to acknowledge the unsung hero.

As per the letter written by the village panchayat to the state government, Harnam Singh was born in 1912. He was recruited into the British army in the Punjab regiment at the age of 20 in 1932. Seeing his bravery, he was promoted to the rank of Hawaldar just four years after his recruitment. He took part in the WW-II and served the British army in Belgium, Burma and Singapore.

In 1945, his regiment came back to India and was stationed at Meerut. Many soldiers from the Punjab regiment were deserting the British army and joining Azad Hind Army founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

This enraged the British officials who then began mistreating the Indian soldiers.

In one such incident, a British colonel was abusing the Indian soldiers. Harman, on seeing this, attacked the colonel. Things soon took a turn for the worse as Harnam had to face court martial and was eventually given death penalty.

Meanwhile, the British feared that in case Harnam was executed, it could lead to bigger mutiny. The British officers asked Harnam to tender an apology to which he refused. Following this, he was eventually sent back without any pension or medal that he had earned throughout his service.

Harnam Singh after returning was welcomed by the freedom fighters from Kangra at Pathankot. He continued taking part in freedom struggle till 1947 and passed away in 2005.