Prafulla Chaki: Difference between revisions

| name         = [[Prafulla]] [[Chaki]]

| native_name   = প্রফুল্ল চাকী

| image       = Prafulla Chaki.jpg

| caption     = Prafulla Chaki alias Dinesh Chandra Roy

| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=yes|1888|12|10}}

| birth_place = [[Bogra District|Bogra district]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (presently in [[Bangladesh]])

| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=yes|1908|05|01|1888|12|10}}

| death_place = Mokama Ghat Railway Station, Dist. Patna, Bihar, [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]

| occupation   = [[Freedom fighters of India]]

| known_for   = Role in Indian freedom struggle

| movement     = [[Indian independence movement]]

'''Prafulla Chandra Chaki''' {{IPAc-en|audio=Prafulla chaki.ogg}} ({{lang-bn|প্রফুল্ল চাকী}} ''Profullo Chaki'' alias Dinesh Chandra Roy) (10 December 1888 – 1 May 1908) was an Indian revolutionary associated with the [[Jugantar]] group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against [[British Raj|British colonial]] officials in an attempt to secure [[Indian independence movement|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 to travel but he was not in the carriage and two British women 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 women and sentenced to death.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1765978/ | title=Calcutta High Court Khudiram Bose vs Emperor on 13 July, 1908 | publisher=Indian Kanoon | access-date=5 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="Guha1971p131">{{cite book |author=Arun Chandra Guha |year=1971 |title=First spark of revolution: the early phase of India's struggle for independence, 1900-1920 |publisher=Orient Longman |page=131 |oclc=254043308 |quote=Khudiram was suspected and arrested there [at Waini station] ... Khudiram was tried ... was sentenced to death and hanged in the Muzaffarpur jail ... on 19 August 1908.}}</ref> [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]] did not approve this violence and regretted the deaths of two women. He stated "that the Indian people will not win their freedom through these methods".<ref name="Shankar1996">{{cite book|author=Rama Hari Shankar|title=Gandhi's encounter with the Indian revolutionaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0duAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Siddharth Publications|isbn=978-81-7220-079-4|page=48}}</ref><ref name="Jhunjhunwala2015">{{cite book|author=Lakshiminiwas Jhunjhunwala|title=Panorama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NmtsCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149|year=2015|publisher=Ocean Books Pvt. Limited|isbn=978-81-8430-312-4|page=149}}</ref><ref name="(Mahatma)1962">{{cite book|author=Mahatma Gandhi|author-link=Mahatma Gandhi|title=Collected works|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tz9uAAAAMAAJ|year=1962|publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India|page=223}}</ref><ref name="DasMishra1978">{{cite book|author1=Bhaskar Chandra Das|author2=G. P. Mishra|title=Gandhi in to-day's India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EnceAAAAMAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Ashish|page=51|isbn=9788170240464|oclc=461855455}}</ref> However, [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] in his newspaper ''[[Kesari (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.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The story of our independence: Six years of jail for Tilak |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/the-story-of-our-independence-six-years-of-jail-for-tilak/story-vC1VtfmXEj4WfMPC2qiR5J.html |date=2015-08-08 |work=Hindustan Times |access-date=2018-08-11}}</ref>

Next, Prafulla, along with '''[[Khudiram Bose]] was chosen for the assassinati'''on of Kingsford, the magistrate of [[Muzaffarpur]], [[Bihar]]. Kingsford, during his previous tenure as the Chief Presidency Magistrate of [[Kolkata|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.<ref name="Chaturvedi2007">{{cite book|author=Ritu Chaturvedi|title=Bihar Through the Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cn9AcbAL0m4C&pg=PA340|year=2007|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-798-5|page=340}}</ref> Prafulla took the fake name of 'Dinesh Chandra Roy' in this operation.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Hitendra Patel |year=2008 |title=Khudiram Bose Revolutionary Extraordinaire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9qhDQAAQBAJ&q=prafulla+chaki+name+dinesh&pg=PT58 |publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting |isbn=9788123022789}}</ref>

Prafulla and Khudiram took separate routes to escape. Prafulla reached Samastipur where he was provided shelter by a railway staff member, Triguna Charan Ghosh. Ghosh also provided him with an inter-class ticket for boarding the night train due for [[Mokama]].<ref name="Chaturvedi2007"/> Nandalal Banerjee, a police officer travelling in the same compartment grew suspicious of Prafulla and attempted to arrest him on the Mokama railway station platform. But Prafulla committed suicide by shooting himself using his own revolver.<ref>{{cite book |author=Arun Chandra Guha |year=1971 |title=First spark of revolution: the early phase of India's struggle for independence, 1900-1920 |publisher=Orient Longman |page=131 |oclc=254043308 |quote=A Bengali police officer, Nandalal Banerji was also travelling in the same compartment ... Nandalal suspected Prafulla and tried to arrest him. But Prafulla was quite alert; he put his revolver under his own chin and pulled the trigger ... This happened on the Mokama station platform on 2nd May, 1908.}}</ref> His head was severed from his body and sent to Kolkata to be identified by Khudiram who unfortunately got captured.<ref name="Chaturvedi2007"/> Khudiram was later arrested and hanged to death. Following this incident, inspector Nandalal was assassinated by two young revolutionaries, [[Srishh Pal]] and Ranen Ganguly.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sansad Bangali Charitavidhan (Bengali)|last=Subodh ch. Sengupta & Anjali Basu|first=Vol - I|publisher=Sahitya Sansad|year=2002|isbn=978-81-85626-65-9|location=Kolkata|pages=541}}</ref> Their relatives live in Uttar and Dakhin Dinajpur, West Bengal. Pratap Chanda Chaki's great grandson Subrata Chaki lives in Kolkata.