In the vast tapestry of India’s freedom struggle, woven with the fine threads of fortitude and resilience, are the heroic tales of freedom fighters who gave it their all in the quest for India’s independence. Their shining legacy continues to intrigue and inspire people. One such freedom fighter is Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in France for a three-day visit, he visited Marseille on 11^th February as he remembered Savarkar’s ‘escape to liberty’ in the French city.

Taking to X, PM Modi remembered Veer Savarkar’s “courageous escape” from the British captivity at the French port city of Marseille. He also thanked the French activists of that time who demanded that the Indian revolutionary not be handed over to British custody.

“Landed in Marseille. In India’s quest for freedom, this city holds special significance. It was here that the great Veer Savarkar attempted a courageous escape. I also want to thank the people of Marseille and the French activists of that time who demanded that he not be handed over to British custody. The bravery of Veer Savarkar continues to inspire generations!” PM Modi posted.

Landed in Marseille. In India’s quest for freedom, this city holds special significance. It was here that the great Veer Savarkar attempted a courageous escape. I also want to thank the people of Marseille and the French activists of that time who demanded that he not be handed…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2025

On Wednesday, PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Marseille to pay homage to Veer Savarkar. As the two world leaders honour Savarkar’s historical connection with the French port city, what made Savarkar’s daring escape attempt significant is what happened before and after the escape.

Veer Savarkar arrested by British authorities: Crime? Galvanising revolutionary activities against the British colonialists

In the early 1910, Veer Savarkar was arrested in London in connection with the Nasik Conspiracy Case. In 1909, AMT Jackson, then district magistrate of Nasik was assassinated by by Anant Laxman Kanhare. It was during the investigation of this case that the existence of Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat Society and how Savarkar’s poems, books and speeches were inspiring Indian youth to resist the British oppressors came to the fore for the Englishmen, who were spooked by a revolution of sorts quietly sweeping the nation and mobilising youth against the British.

Acting on a war footing, the British commissioned a preliminary investigation into the assassination of Jackson, which revealed that the weapon used for the Jackson murder had been sent from London by Savarkar.

The assassination of Curzon Wyllie, the political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, Lord George Hamilton by Madan Lal Dhingra, an Indian revolutionary and member of Savarkar’s India House in London, already created further troubles for Savarkar. This was because he refused to condemn Wyllie’s assassination in The Sociologist, and was accused of supplying a gun to Dhingra. As India House and Abhinav Bharat’s role caught the notice of the British, several Indian revolutionaries in Britain decided to move to Japan, the USA and France.

Savarkar had also moved to Paris in 1909 following the crackdown on India House. But he returned to London in 1910. Despite knowing that the Fugitive Offenders Act had been slapped on him, Savarkar returned to London. He was, however, unaware that a plan to arrest him was already in progress. In the Nasik Conspiracy case, Veer Savarkar was charged with sedition, waging war against the British Government and conspiring to overthrow it.

As per a letter dated 26^th March 1910 from Assistant Police Inspector Guyder to Deputy Superintendent C.I.D. Charles John Power, the latter was accompanied by three police jamadars who were tasked with serving the arrest warrant issued against Savarkar. However, one of the officers Usman Khan passed away after reaching London.

Veer Savarkar was taken to Bow Street Magistrate and his belongings were searched. The Indian freedom fighter was found carrying nationalist books, newspaper cuttings, photographs of Mazzini and Madan Lal Dhingra, his writings on Garibaldi and a paper with code language. Savarkar was tortured to decipher the code language, however, he did not reveal the message.

Meanwhile, two plans were chalked out to free Savarkar from Brixton Jail, however, he gave a cryptic message to one of his compatriots VVS Aiyar: “While heading to Hindustan, the ship will halt at Marseille Port…”

Savarkar’s ideas encapsulated in his popular book The Indian War of Independence, already made him a marked man by the British government, however, despite being incarcerated and stripped of his freedom, Savarkar’s spirit and patriotic zeal remained unbroken.

The daring leap to liberty at Marseille

On 8^th July 1910, when Veer Savarkar was being transported to India for trial aboard the British ship SS Morea, leapt through the porthole of the ship at Marseille port. Savarkar managed to escape even though a strict vigil was placed on him by the police and there were no portholes in the room he was kept in. In fact, he was not even allowed to walk or sit alone and had to take his meals while sitting between two police officers— Detective-Inspector Edward Parker of Scotland Yard, Deputy Superintendent C.I.D. Charles John Power.

Moreover, the French authorities had received intelligence from British authorities in advance that attempts might be made at Marseille to free Savarkar.

At around 6:15 am, Savarkar asked the two police officials Amarsingh Sakharamsingh Pardeshi from Nashik and Muhammed Siddique from Poona to take him to the ship’s toilet., It is said that Pardeshi was a former member of Savarkar’s secret society Mitra Mela. After entering the lavatory, Savarkar locked the door from inside and was escaping from the porthole there when the officers understood that their captive had escaped.

Savarkar swam 10-12 feet and climbed up the quay wall.  He came across a French gendarme and requested to take him into custody as Savarkar wanted to take political asylum in France. However, the French officer did not understand English and arrested him. Later, Savarkar was handed over to the British authorities and brought back to Morea.

Beyond the courage shown in escaping the British captivity, Savarkar’s greatness does not lie in the distance he swam but in the fact that despite having the option to escape arrest, he decided to court arrest to prove his mettle. Once the purpose was served, Savarkar’s escape attempt was to mock and embarrass the British government. In fact, his attempt to seek asylum on French soil was his way of challenging the British government’s supposed ‘law-abiding’ credentials in front of the world.

British media downplayed Savarkar’s heroism but French media and politicians supported the Indian freedom fighter

While the British media, unsurprisingly downplayed Savarkar’s daring escape attempt with there being very limited coverage in Daily Mail, the incident created a sensation in France. The French media widely covered the incident and French socialists. A French Socialist paper L’Humanite condemned the French authorities for denying asylum to Veer Savarkar and wrote, “This abominable violation of the right of asylum was effected in absolute secrecy; had it not been for a telegram published yesterday (July 11th) in the Paris Daily Mail we should still have been in ignorance of the incident. But it is quite impossible that the matter can be allowed to rest here. In delivering up a political refugee the Marseilles authorities – admitting that they had acted on their own initiative – have committed an outrage of which account will most assuredly be demanded and in respect of which the sanction of the State itself is necessary.”

Similarly, some non-socialist papers L’Eclaire Le Temps, and Le Matin also declared Savarkar’s arrest in France as an “international scandal” and a violation of the right to asylum. Making most of the opportunity to highlight the Indian freedom struggle, Shyamji, Ranaji and Madam Cama approached French leaders like Monsieur Jaures among others and convinced them that a massive blunder has been committed by the French authorities in denying Veer Savarkar asylum and allowing his arrest on French soil.

L’affaire Savarkar

Amidst outrage in the French media and civil society, France communicated to the British authorities that Veer Savarkar should be handed back to them as he was arrested on French soil. The French authorities alleged a violation of international laws regarding asylum and extradition. However, Britain was of the view that Savarkar was not in France for long enough to claim asylum and tried to make seem like it was a domestic issue. Based on this assertion, Britain refused to hand Savarkar back to the French government.

The disagreement between the two governments led to one of the most controversial cases brought before the Hague Tribunal. Justice was the last outcome Veer Savarkar or the French government would have expected from this trial since most of the arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration were inclined towards Britain.

For Savarkar’s case, the tribunal was composed of August M. F. Beernaert of Belgium, Earl of Desart of England, Louis Renault of France, Gregors Gram of Norway and A. F. de Savornin Lohman of Holland.  The trial began on 14^th February 1911 and ended on 17^th February 1911, the verdict was pronounced on 24^th February 1911.

Unsurprisingly, the Hague Tribunal under President Beernaert ruled in favour of Britain and said that there was no obligation on the part of Britain to return Veer Savarkar to France. The tribunal concluded that there was no violation of international law or France’s sovereignty. It said that the French constable acted in good faith by returning Savarkar to British custody.

“WHEREAS, having regard to what has been stated, it is manifest that the case is not one of recourse to fraud or force to obtain possession of a person who had taken refuge in foreign territory and that there was not, in the circumstances of the arrest and delivery of SAVARKAR to the British Authorities and of his removal to India, anything like a violation of the sovereignty of France, and that all those who took part in the matter certainly acted in good faith and had no thought of doing anything unlawful,” the Hague Tribunal said.

“WHEREAS, in the circumstances cited above, the conduct of the brigadier not having been disclaimed by his chiefs before the morning of the 9th July, that is to say before the ” Morea ” left Marseilles, the British Police might naturally have believed that the brigadier had acted by his instructions, or that his conduct had been approved,” it continued.

The Hague Tribunal admitted that an irregularity was indeed committed in Savarkar’s arrest on French soil and his subsequent handover to the British police, it did not necessitate Britain to return the Indian revolutionary to France.

“WHEREAS, while admitting that an irregularity was committed by the arrest of SAVARKAR, and by his being handed over to the British Police, there is no rule of International Law imposing, in circumstances such as those which have been set out above, any obligation on the Power which has in its custody a prisoner, to restore him because of a mistake committed by the foreign agent who delivered him up to that Power,” the Hague Tribunal’s order stated.

“The Arbitral Tribunal decides that the Government of His Britannic Majesty is not required to restore the said VINAYAK DAMODAR SAVARKAR to the Government of the French Republic,” the Hague Tribunal ruled.

With the Hague Tribunal ruling in favour of Britain, Veer Savarkar was brought back to India and tried in the Nasik Conspiracy case.  He was tried in two other cases as well. The trials went on for 68 days and on 24^th December 1910, a 28-year-old Veer Savarkar was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. During his time in Kala Pani, Veer Savarkar was subjected to torture and suffering. He was also subjected to neck shackles, cross-bar iron fetters, and forced to do hard labour.  As if this was not enough, the British government started a second trial against him and Savarkar was given a second life sentence on 30^th January 1911.

Fifty years in the grim confines of Kala Pani, however, could not deter Veer Savarkar from his commitment and passion for a Swatantra Bharat. Despite being subjected to indescribable torment, wrote some of his most influential Marathi poems and books from prison including  Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? During his time in jail, Savarkar closely observed how Hindu inmates were discriminated against by the Muslims warders with many even converted to Islam. He also advocated for prison reforms. He wrote strategic letters of ploy to the Britishers, not only for himself but for others also, to get out of jail. Even after coming out of jail in 1924, Savarkar continued his efforts towards uniting Indians against the oppressive British Raj. While the Islamo-leftist ecosystem to this day continues to malign Veer Savarkar’s legacy, the Modi government honours the struggles and sacrifices of Veer Savarkar and is now celebrating his legacy to cement diplomatic and cultural ties with France.