The officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s cooperation. He helped them regulate the crowd. He was polite and friendly. He was giving them concrete proof that their might, hitherto dreaded and unquestioned, could be challenged by Indians.
The government was baffled. The prosecutor requested the judge to postpone the trial. Apparently, the authorities wished to consult their superiors. Gandhi protested against the delay. He read a statement pleading guilty. He was involved, he told the court, in a ‘conflict of duties’ – on the one hand, not to set a bad example as a lawbreaker, on the other hand, to render the ‘humanitarian and national service’ for which he had come. He disregarded the order to leave, ‘not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience’. He asked for the penalty due.
(Indigo)