Bhagat Singh
The trials of the special tribunal began on 5 May 1930 at the court of special magistrate in Poonch House. The location had been shifted from the Lahore Jail. The accused were forcibly taken to the trials as they had refused to come to the court. The revolutionaries knew well that the presiding judge is a British and he will no doubt give them a harsh punishment. On 12 May, the revolutionaries were again harshly beaten with sticks and were dragged to the court for trial. The revolutionaries boycotted the trials from that day on and did not present themselves in the court. They demanded that Justice G. C. Hilton must be removed and an Indian judge preside the case. But the government denied their wish. In June, they removed Justice Agha Hyder (who had tried to stop the police from beating the revolutionaries as he had sympathy for them) and presiding judge Justice Coldstream and made Justice G. C. Hilton the presiding judge and appointed Justice Abdul Qadir and Justice Tapp instead.