The body of Tileswari Barua, Assam’s youngest martyr during the 1942 Quit India Movement, was never found unlike those of the other 16 whom the police had gunned down in Dhekiajuli.
Only 13 find mention on the plaque in the town’s landmark memorial for the Quit India martyrs. Two of them – a monk and a beggar – are unnamed.
After 76 years, an effort is on to identify these two martyrs along with four others who succumbed to injuries a day or two after the firing on September 20, 1942. The four could not be honoured because they did not find mention in British records, said officials.
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Suicide squad
“We will have to try to identify the unnamed martyrs to ensure they find a place in the history of India’s freedom struggle. The State government has to take a call on this so that their survivors are felicitated,” said Ashok Singhal, the BJP legislator representing Dhekiajuli Assembly constituency, on Thursday. The State government handed over a cheque ₹5 lakh each to the survivors of nine named martyrs, including Tileswari, who had signed up for a suicide squad at age 12.
“We handed over nine cheques because the martyrs were from Sonitpur district. The claims for the other two from Udalguri and Nagaon districts have not been received yet,” said District Deputy Commissioner Manoj K. Deka.
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“Tileswari was the fourth to be hit by bullets after Monbor Nath, Kumoli Devi and Mohiram Koch. The martyrs had volunteered to climb atop the police station and hoist the Tricolour,” said retired teacher Ramesh Chandra Bora. His research helped include the unnamed monk and beggar, who were initially recognised.
He also found out about the four others who died within 48 hours of the firing. Former Dhekiajuli MLA Joseph Toppo of Asom Gana Parishad had initiated a project to identify the unnamed martyrs less than a decade ago.
The project was shelved after his death in March 2016.