Explained: Who was Ashfaqullah Khan, and why did the British hang him?

News:Recently,Uttar Pradesh government has announced that it will build a 121-acre zoo named after Ashfaqullah Khan.

Facts:

About Ashfaqullah Khan:

• Ashfaqulla Khan (1900 – 1927) was a freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement.He was born in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• In 1920,Mahatma Gandhi had launched his Non-cooperation movement against the British rule in India. 
• But after the Chauri Chaura incident in 1922,Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the call for this movement. 
• At that point, many young people including Ashfaqulla Khan became revolutionaries and turned to organisations like Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Kakori Conspiracy case:

• The Kakori train robbery was a conspiracy against the British Empire to help Indian freedom fighters achieve freedom as soon as possible.
• The robbery was carried out by the Hindustan Republic Association in the Kakori town of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) on 9 August 1925.
• The Hindustan Republican Association(HRA) was a revolutionary party formed in 1924 by a youth group of the Indian National Congress disgruntled over Mahatma Gandhi’s sudden call to stop the non-cooperation movement.
• The main freedom fighters arrested for their involvement in the Kakori conspiracy case were Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad among others.
• During the trial,Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqullah Khan were given death sentences and others were given life imprisonment.