Batukeshwar Dutt
Batukeshwar Dutt
Batukeshwar Dutt' was an Indian revolutionary in the early 1900s. He is best known for having bombed, along with Bhagat Singh, the Central Legislative Assembly New Delhi on 8 April 1929. After his arrest, he and Singh were instrumental in initiating a hunger strike protesting against the rights and state of Indian political prisoners.He was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, one of the first Marxist parties in India.
Batukeshwar Dutt was also known as BK Dutta, alias Battu, alias Mohan, son of Gosta Bihari Dutta and a resident of Oari village, Khanda, Mausu, Burdwan Bengal born on 18 Nov 1910 , was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association who was a close associate of Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh. He met Bhagat Singh in Kanpur in 1924. he get his high school education in P P N high school Kanpur. Working in Kanpur for the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, he learnt how to make bombs.
In the face of factions by the revolutionaries, the British government enacted the Public safety bill & Trade dispute bill to give more power to the British Govt & police.The purpose of the Act was to combat revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. The Act was defeated in the council by one vote.However, the Act was then passed under the ordinance that claimed that it was in the best interest of the public. In response to this act, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association planned to explode a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly where the ordinance was going to be passed. Originally, Chandrashekhar Azad, another prominent leader of the revolutionary movement attempted to stop Bhagat Singh from carrying out the bombing. However, the remainder of the party forced him to succumb to Singh's wishes. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt would throw the bomb in the assembly.
On April 8, 1929, Singh and Dutt threw a bomb onto the corridors of the assembly and shouted "Inquilab Zindabad!" ("Long Live the Revolution!"). This was followed by a shower of leaflets stating that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. The bomb neither killed nor injured anyone; Singh and Dutt claimed that this was deliberate on their part, a claim substantiated both by British forensics investigators who found that the bomb was not powerful enough to cause injury, and by the fact that the bomb was thrown away from people. Singh and Dutt gave themselves up for arrest after the bomb.He and Dutt were sentenced to 'Transportation for Life' for the bombing on June 12, 1929.
Batukeshwar Dutt was tried in Central Assembly bomb case, he was sentenced in 1929 to life imprisonment by the court of Session Judge of Delhi under section 307 Indian penal code & section 4 of explosive substance act. He was deported to the Cellular Jail Andaman .He was also facing trial in Lahore conspiracy case but later he was discharged. He participated in two hunger strikes in Cellular Jail during May 1933 and July 1937. BK Dutta was repatriated in 1937. He was released from Bankipur Jail Patna in the year 1938.
Batukeshwar Dutt After his release from prison he contracted tuberculosis, he participated in the Quit India movement& was again jailed for 4 years. He got married to Anjali Dutta in November 1947, but unfortunately in independent India he did not receive any recognition and he spent his remaining life in very hard livelihood conditions away from political limelight as a forgotten hero. Batukeshwar Dutta outlived all his comrades and died in 20 July 1965 in AIIMS Delhi after a long illness. He was cremated Hussainiwala near Firozpur in Punjab where the bodies of his comrades Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were cremated many years ago. His only daughter Mrs. Bharti Bagchi is now living in Patna, where the house of Mr B K Dutt is also situated in Jakkanpur area.