अमर शहीद अशफ़ाक़उल्ला ख़ाँ: व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व (काकोरी के अमर शहीद का जीवन व रचनाएँ)

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him. This answer appears to be satisfactory as far as it goes,
that is to say unless and until the defence can show that other, less
innocent, reasons existed for his identification.
As much has been said about the possibility of the photograph
O. P. 163. which was found at Delhi being shown to the witnesses I must
sketch, as briefly as possible, the history of this photograph from
the date of its discovery to the date of the identification proceed-
ings. I note first of all, however, that little or nothing has been
said about the photograph of Banarsi and Ashfaqullah (Ex. P 28)
which was found with Banarsi a year before, though it is obvious 10
that if the police had wished to assist the identifying witnesses
they could have done so quite as easily by showing them this photo-
graph as by showing them the other one, if not more easily. The
reason why the defence have concentrated on the later photograph
appears to be that Ashfaqullah himself, possibly not knowing that
the other one had been found a year before, displayed anxiety
about it soon after his arrest and complained in his statement to
the court about the way in which it had been kept.
In view of the indications given by Ashfaqullah that he
intended to make the most of this photograph a large number of 20
witnesses were brought from Delhi to show exactly what happened
to it. The photograph (Ex. P. A. 37) was found in Ashfaqullah's
box. The box had been sealed up on the 8th September when
Ashfaqullah was arrested and was taken the next day by the
Deputy Superintendent, Khan Bahadur Hakim Ikram-ul-Haq, who
had arrested Ashfaqullah, to the magistrate, Saiyid Ghulam
Mustafa Shah (P. W. 118) to prepare a list of its contents. Ashfaq-
ullah says that he asked the magistrate to destroy it but the
evidence of the Deputy Superintendent and the magistrate shows
that he did not make any such request until the 13th. The 30
police did not at first pay much attention to the photograph as
it was not a very good likeness; indeed they appear to have
been doubtful whether it was Ashfaqullah's photograph. His
O. P. 164. letter to his sister found in his possession (Ex. P. A. 6) shows
that he intended to send the photograph to her at the first
opportunity, "although it is very dim. If I get an opportunity
I will send you a good photo". When on the 13th, Ashfaqullah
for the first time displayed anxiety about the photograph the
Deputy Superintendent told him that it had been put back into
the box, the key of which had been kept by him. He also assu- 40
red him that no undue advantage would be taken of it. The box was
kept in the police malkhana. It is clear from this evidence that
the photograph was not sent to Lucknow and shown to the
witnesses between the 9th and 13th September. On the 13th
September, Mr. Horton arrived at Delhi and wanted to see some of
the things found with Ashfaqullah. Khan Bahadur Tasadduq Husain,
Deputy Superintendent attached to the office of the Director of