Our fight for independence was long and difficult. And the names of martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, and Lala Rajput Rai are well known, but there were many who gave up their life for our independence. Here is a list of some lesser-known martyrs who died in support of India’s independence:
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1. Bhikaji Cama:
Madam Cama, also known as Bhikaiji Cama, was a well-known figure in the Indian independence movement. Few people in the country are aware of who she was and what she accomplished despite the fact that she has multiple roads and structures named after her. She was not just active in the Indian Independence Movement but also a proponent of gender equality. The majority of her belongings were donated to a girls’ orphanage. At the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1907, she also raised the then design of the Indian flag. Cama remained in exile in Europe until 1935, returned to India in November 1935 and died nine months later, aged 74, at Parsi General Hospital on 13 August 1936.
2. Surya Sen:
Surya Sen, an Indian revolutionary best known for organising the 1930 Chittagong Armory Raid, played a significant role in the campaign for Indian independence from British control in India. Sen and other surviving revolutionaries split off into tiny groups and took cover in nearby villages, launching raids on government employees and property after the Chittagong raid in 1930 and a bloody confrontation in which more than 80 British Indian Army soldiers and 12 revolutionaries were slain. Sen was detained on February 16, 1933, put on trial, and executed on January 12, 1934.
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3. Peer Ali Khan:
Peer Ali Khan was a revolutionary and rebel from India who took part in the movement for Indian independence. Due to his involvement in the 1857 independence struggle, he received the death penalty. Khan, a bookbinder by profession, used to deliver vital fliers, pamphlets, and coded signals to freedom fighters in secret. He regularly ran campaigns in opposition to the British government. Khan was executed by hanging on July 7, 1857, in front of a large crowd by William Tayler, the Patna commissioner at the time.
4. The duo of Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chakki:
The duo were revolutionaries, who wanted complete independence of India from the British. By tossing bombs at the carriage in which a British judge Magistrate Kingsford was due to ride, Chakki and Bose attempted to assassinate the district judge but failed, killing two British women in the process. When the police were going to arrest Prafulla, he killed himself. Khudiram was detained, found guilty of killing the two women, and given the death penalty. Khudiram, the second-youngest revolutionary in India, was 18 years, 8 months, 11 days, and 10 hours old when the British hung him.
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5. The Trio of Benoy, Dinesh and Badal:
The trio assassinated Col. NS Simpson, Inspector General of Prisons, who was notorious for his atrocities against the prisoners, in a manner similar to how Bhagat Singh and his friends assassinated Saunders. The trio of Badal Gupta, Dinesh Gupta, and Benoy Basu made the decision to attack the administrative building, the Writers’Building on Dalhousie Square, Kolkata, not only to kill him but also to terrorise the British. They entered the building as a group posing as Europeans on December 8th and killed Simpson. Benoy and Dinesh shot themselves, while Badal ingested poison since none of them wanted to be captured. After being transferred to the hospital, Badal passed away on December 13.