Born: 18th November 1910
Died: 20th July 1965
Shri Batukeshwar Dutt was born on 18th November 1910, in Bengal’s Burdwan district. Dutt spent his early childhood in Kanpur (U.P.) and did his studies at the Theosophical High School and Prithvinath Chak High School. Dutt’s aspiration for being revolutionary was sparked when he saw the Britishers beating an Indian child for standing on a road (they were not supposed to). Both Batukeshwar Dutt and Shaheed Bhagat Singh were a part of the HRA (Hindustan Republican Association), which later became HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association), in 1927.
Both of them in 1929, threw bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly, Delhi while raising slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (again and again) and welcomed the punishment of the Kala Pani (imprisonment at the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands). While in jail he continued his fight for the rights of prisoners against inhumane treatment. Soon after his release from the Andaman jail, he got married to Anjali Dutt and became a father of a girl (Bharati). Dutt (a revolutionary activist at the peak of the freedom struggle) led an unrecognized life in independent India by working in a cigarette company, transport business, etc. Unlike his fellows (Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh) Dutt remained alive and saw Independence & Partition. Unfortunately, in 1964, his downfall began as he fell seriously ill and was in urgent need of a hospital, but he couldn’t find a hospital bed in Patna. When Chamanlal Azad (Dutt’s friend and fellow comrade) wrote a passionate letter to the President of India which became the headlines. Then the Government of Punjab offered him the aid of Rs 1,000 and free treatment in Delhi or Chandigarh. But the Bihar government did not allow him to go to Delhi until he was on the brink of death (reports note). On 22 November 1964, Dutt reached Delhi at Safdarjung Hospital. Considering his declining health he was shifted to AIIMS, in December, where he was diagnosed with cancer. When the CM of Punjab visited him and offered him financial aid he only requested that he be cremated with his friends. Dutt died on 20th July 1965 due to cancer and was cremated at Hussainiwala, alongside his comrades Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru (according to his wish).
