Fifteen lashes were ordered by the judge to a group of schoolchildren for raising slogans against the British educational system in Bannu town in North West Frontier Province (Now part of Pakistan) and I was one among those students, said octogenarian freedom fighter Bheem Sen Bhatia in a quivering tone while remembering the time of Quit India Movement in 1942. living in a house in Dalanwala area here, which looks as old as him, Bhatia was one of the freedom fighters who were honoured by President of India Pranab Mukherjee at President house on August 9 this year
"I became unconscious after six lashes, lashes were stopped I regained consciousness and could hear voices of my cousins gathered at the gate of Jail premises prompting me not to seek forgiveness - Indian Whipping act provisioned that if someone seek forgiveness than the penalty is withdrawn - I again fainted after nine whips but stood ground for full fifteen", recalled Bhatia who was barely 10 years old at that time. The whipping caused uproar in the Bannu town and even women came out to protest against the British Raj. Interestingly when little Bheem Sen was receiving lashes his father, grandfather and elder cousin were in jail for participating in the freedom struggle. Bhatia claims that three generations of his family were in same jail during the Quit India Movement which probably is a rarest of rare feat. "When my father was arrested during height of movement local Superintendent of Police (SP) removed the flag of Congress flying atop our house, trampled it under his foot and said Mr Bhatia it is end of your Congress. My father retorted, it is beginning not end Mr SP," he recalled. Narrating another very interesting incident Bhatia said that his family had a very close association with Mir Taj Mohammad — father of superstar Shah Rukh Khan — as he too was associated with red shirt movement of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. He informed that Mir Taj used to visit Bhatia's when they shifted to Dehradun.
Bheem Sen said that his grandfather Jhandi Ram was a wealthy man who owned a series of canteens in the British Army camps in Waziristan area. When the British got to know that son of Jhandi Ram has joined Congress party they confiscated all his property. Incidentally Kewal Ram, father of Bheem Sen became a parliamentary secretary to Dr Khan Sahib — father of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan — the Chief Minister of provincial Government of NWFP. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan fondly called Frontier Gandhi used to meet Bhatia family whenever he visited India after Partition.
Bhatia informed that the Bannu town was a walled city dominated by Hindus and almost everyone migrated to India after Partition which was very painful. He said that the family shifted to Ajmer after Partition and later to Dehradun where they set up famous Bannu School in Race Course area. The freedom fighter expressed satisfaction on the progress the country has made after Independence but rued decline in moral values in today's society.