Prafulla Chaki: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Indian freedom fighter (1888-1908)}}

{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

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> [[Mahatma Gandhi]]  denounced the 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>

Prafulla Chandra Chaki was born in a well to do Jotdar family on 10 December 1888 in Bihar, a village in [[Bogra District|Bogra district]] of current day [[Bangladesh]], then a part of [[Bengal Presidency]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Chaki,_Prafulla|title=Chaki, Prafulla|website=Banglapedia|access-date=2020-01-11}}</ref> His father's name was Rajnarayan Chaki and mother's name was Swarnomoyee Devi. Rajnarayan's ancestor Prankrishna Chaki (his grandfather) was a residents of Chanchakia, Pabna, Their original surname was Bosu but people living in Chanchakia were also called Chaki. He was the fifth child in his family. Rajnarayan was an employee in the Nagar estate. He started his education at Namuja Janada Prasad English School, an English medium school in Bogra. After completing his primary education he came to Rangpur with his elder brother Pratap Chandra Chaki whose father-in-law was a reputed person in Rangpur. He was expelled from [[Rangpur Zilla School]] in Class 9 for taking part in a students' demonstration that violated East Bengal law. He then joined Rangpur National School where he came in contact with revolutionaries and became a believer and practitioner of revolutionary philosophies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.istampgallery.com/prafulla-chandra-chaki/|title=Prafulla Chandra Chaki|website=istampgallery.com|date=5 December 2014|access-date=2020-01-11}}</ref> He loved horse riding and swimming. As an athlete, he was a renowned wrestler, lathikhalowar (stick-fighter).{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. On the evening of 30 April 1908, the duo was waiting in front of the gate of European Club for Kingsford's carriage to arrive. When a vehicle came out of the gate, a bomb was thrown into the carriage. There was a mistake towards identification by them, as the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford, but wife and daughter of Mr Pringle Kennedy, a leading pleader at Muzaffarpur Bar. The daughter died soon after and his wife succumbed to her injuries.<ref name="Chaturvedi2007"/> The revolutionaries fled.

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"/>