Prafulla Chaki

Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki
Native name প্রফুল্ল চাকী
Born (1888-12-10)December 10, 1888
Bogra District , Bengal Presidency, British India
Died (1908-05-02)May 2, 1908
Nationality Indian
Occupation Freedom fighters of India
Known for Role in Indian freedom struggle
Movement Indian independence movement

Prafulla Chandra Chaki // ( listen) (Bengali: প্রফুল্ল চাকী Profullo Chaki) (10 December 1888 – 2 May 1908) was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.

Prafulla and Khudiram Bose tried to assassinate the District Judge, Mr. Kingsford by throwing bombs at the carriage in which Kingsford was supposed was travel but he was not in the carriage and two British ladies were killed. Prafulla committed suicide when he was about to be arrested by the Police. Khudiram was arrested and tried for the murder of the two ladies and sentenced to death.[1][2]Mahatma Gandhi did not approve this violence and regretted the death of two innocent women. He stated "that the Indian people will not win there freedom through these methods" [3] [4][5][6] However, Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his newspaper Kesari, defended the two young men and called for immediate swaraj. This was followed by the immediate arrest of Tilak by the British colonial government on charges of sedition.[7]

Early life

Prafulla Chandra Chaki was born on 10 December 1888 in the Bihari village of Bogra district, Bengal Presidency, British India - now in Bangladesh. He was expelled from Rangpur Zilla School when studying in Class 9 for taking part in a students' demonstration that violated East Bengal law. Then, he joined Rangpur National School where he came in contact with revolutionaries and became a believer and practitioner of the revolutionary philosophies.

Revolutionary activities

Barin Ghosh brought Prafulla to Kolkata and he was enlisted in the Jugantar party. His first assignment was to kill Sir Joseph Bampfylde Fuller (1854-1935), the first Lieutenant Governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. However, the plan did not materialize.

Next, Prafulla, along with Khudiram Bose was chosen for the assassination of Kingsford, the magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Kingsford, during his previous tenure as the Chief the Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, was unpopular for passing harsh and cruel sentences on young political workers of Bengal. He was also noted for inflicting corporal punishments on such workers. This led to the planning of his murder, and Chaki and Bose were selected and sent to Muzaffarpur to execute this task.[8] Prafulla took the fake name of 'Dinesh Chandra Roy' in this operation.[9]

The Muzaffarpur killing

Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. In the evening of 30 April 1908, the duo waited in front of the gate of European Club for the carriage of Kingsford to come. When a vehicle came out of the gate, a bomb was thrown into the carriage. There was a mistake of identification by them, as the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford, but wife and daughter of Mr Pringle Kennedy, a leading pleader of Muzaffarpur Bar. The daughter died soon and his wife succumbed to her injuries.[8] The revolutionaries fled.

The manhunt and suicide

Prafulla and Khudiram took separate routes to escape. Prafulla reached Samastipur where he was given shelter and clothing by a railway staff member, Triguna Charan Ghosh. Ghosh also provided him an inter-class ticket in the night train for Mokama.[8] Nandalal Banerjee, a Sub-Inspector of Police, in the same compartment who was returning from his leave, suspected Prafulla at Samastipur Railway station. The sub-inspector sent telegraphic message to Magistrate Mr. Udman at Muzaffarpur and was allowed to arrest Prafulla Chaki. At Mokama Ghat railway station, a commotion and a short chase ensued. Prafulla was soon cornered and was about to get arrested when he took his own life by firing two shots - one at the forehead and the other on the left side of his chest at the head.[10] His head was severed from his body and sent to Calcutta for further identification by Khudiram who was captured.[8] Khudiram was later arrested and was hanged to death. The police inspector, Nandalal Banerjee, was assassinated by two young revolutionary, Srishh Pal and Ranen Ganguly.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Calcutta High Court Khudiram Bose vs Emperor on 13 July, 1908". Indian Kanoon. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Guha 1971
  3. ↑ Rama Hari Shankar (1996). Gandhi's encounter with the Indian revolutionaries. Siddharth Publications. p. 48. ISBN 978-81-7220-079-4. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Lakshiminiwas Jhunjhunwala (2015). Panorama. Ocean Books Pvt. Limited. pp. 149–. ISBN 978-81-8430-312-4. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Mahatma Gandhi (1962). Collected works. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. p. 223. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  6. ↑ Bhaskar Chandra Das; G. P. Mishra (1978). Gandhi in to-day's India. Ashish. p. 51. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "The story of our independence: Six years of jail for Tilak". Hindustan Times. 2015-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-11.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Ritu Chaturvedi (1 January 2007). Bihar Through the Ages. Sarup & Sons. pp. 340–. ISBN 978-81-7625-798-5. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Hitendra Patel, Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (August 12, 2016). "KHUDIRAM BOSE REVOLUTIONARY EXTRAORDINAIRE". Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  10. ↑ Arun Chandra Guha (1971). First spark of revolution: the early phase of India's struggle for independence, 1900-1920. Orient Longman. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  11. ↑ Subodh ch. Sengupta & Anjali Basu, Vol - I (2002). Sansad Bangali Charitavidhan (Bengali). Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad. p. 541. ISBN 81-85626-65-0.
  • Mozammel, Md. Muktadir Arif (2012). "Chaki, Prafulla". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  • Muktadhara article
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