GANDHI’S ASSASSIN GIVES HIS REASON AND ASKS NO MERCY

Grey River Argus, 9 November 1948, Page 4

GANDHI’S ASSASSIN GIVES HIS REASON AND ASKS NO MERCY

(Rec. 11.5) LONDON, Nov. 8 A thirty-five-year-old Brahmin, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, confessed in a statement read in court to-day. that he murdered Gandhi, says Reuter’s and the Associated Press correspondents at New Delhi. He said: “I had no companions in the act,, and 1 alone was responsible. I desire no mercy to be shown to me; nor that anyone beg for mercy on my behalf.” Godse is on trial, with seven others, who are also accused of having assassinated Gandhi nine months ago. Godse claimed that his action was morally justified, and he continued: “If there be any court of justice beyond, my act will not be taken as unjust. If devotion to one’s country amounts to sin, I have committed that sin.” Godse said that he had nothing but reverence for Gandhi’s saintliness. He said; “Before I fired the shots, 1 actually bowed to him in reverence.” Godse ‘said that he fired because Gandhi’s policy and his actions . had brought-' ruin to millions of the Hindus. Gandhis policy of appeasement to the Moslems had resulted in the emasculation of the Hindu community and the vivisection of India. He added: “The only effective remedv to relieve the Hindus from Moslem atrocities was to remove Gandhi from this world.”