Interview in Jail: Part-1

Reports on Malabar Rebellion published in the Bombay Chronicle 1921-22

Mr. C.K. Mohamed Yacoob Sahib [a journalist] writes under date 7th December 1921:

I crave the hospitality of your valuable columns for an insertion of an account of the interview I had with a Palathumurakhal Ali Mussaliar (a Moplah Convict on whom death sentence has been passed by the Malabar Special Tribunal), of course with the kind permission given by the Superintendent of the Central Jail Coimbatore. The Deputy Jailor was also present at the interview. The following may be taken to be an exact reproduction of all that Musaliar stated to me in the course of the interview:

“Death sentence has been pronounced by the Special Tribunal on thirteen of us including myself. Who the other twelve are, the public in general and their near and dear kinsmen in particular have no knowledge about. I give you therefor the names of these twelve persons in order that you may do all that is necessary with a view to see that information reaches their kinsmen before they are actually hanged to death, they are [all twelve names are listed].

“All of us are cheerful enough. The thought of what is shortly to overtake us does not torment us. We find considerable relief in the comforting thought that the sufferings and tribulations inflicted upon innocent men like ourselves will not go in vain”. (p. 301)

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