Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent leader in India's struggle for independence, was assassinated on January 30, 1948, at the age of 78. The assassination took place in New Delhi at the Birla House, now known as Gandhi Smriti. Nathuram Godse, a Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune, Maharashtra, was identified as the assassin. He was a Hindu nationalist^[8] and a member of both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization,^[9] and the Hindu Mahasabha. Godse's motive was believed to be rooted in his perception that Gandhi was overly conciliatory towards Pakistan during the 1947 Partition of India.^[10]

The assassination occurred in the evening, around 5 p.m., as Gandhi was heading to a prayer meeting. Godse, emerging from the crowd, fired three bullets at point-blank range^[11] into Gandhi, striking his chest and stomach. Gandhi collapsed and was taken back to his room in Birla House, where he later died.^[12]

Godse was immediately apprehended by the crowd, which included Herbert Reiner Jr, a vice-consul at the American embassy. The trial for Gandhi's assassination began in May 1948 at the Red Fort in Delhi. Godse, along with his collaborator Narayan Apte and six others, were the main defendants. The trial was expedited, a decision possibly influenced by the then Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel, who may have wanted to avoid criticism over the failure to prevent the assassination.^[13] Despite appeals for clemency from Gandhi's sons, Manilal and Ramdas, the death sentences for Godse and Apte were upheld by prominent leaders like Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel. Both were executed on November 15, 1949.^[14]