Why was bhagat singh charged under ipc 302 and not 301?

Section 301 IPC deals with transferred malice-culpable homicide amounting to death of the person other than the one whose death was intended to be caused. It states the words ‘causing death of the person whose death he has no intention to cause’. The revolutionaries – Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev in this case was against the government tyranny, not a particular person. Both Saunders and Scott were representatives of the British Government and rule and both were equally guilty of the lathi charge against Lalaji in the eyes of the revolutionaries. Hence it did not amount to transferred malice since the intention was a ‘British Representative’ and not a person. But there was enough evidence to support Section 303- Murder where the minimum sentence is life imprisonment and the maximum sentence is death. To invoke murder an act must be carried out with the knowledge that it would cause the death of a person. Where Sukhdev was the mastermind, the other two were instruments who carried out the plan with the intention to avenge Lalaji by killing a ‘British Representative’. Thus they were booked under Section 302 and various others for conspiracy and crime but Section 301 was never invoked.