Santi Ghose (also known as Santi Ghosh; 22 November 1916 – 1989) was an

Indian nationalist Indian nationalism is an instance of civic nationalism. It is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, but was f ...

who, along with Suniti Choudhury, assassinated a British district magistrate when she was 16 years old and is known for her participation in an armed revolutionary struggle.

Early life

Ghose was born on 22 November 1916 in

Cumilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

, British India (Now

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

). She belongs to Bangal and was the daughter of Debendranath Ghose, a nationalist and a professor of philosophy at Victoria College of Comilla in eastern

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. In 1931, Ghose was a founding member of the Chhatri Sangha (Girl Students Association) and served as its secretary. Ghose was inspired by Profullanandini Brahma, a student at Nawab Faizunnesa Government Girls' High School

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

, and joined the Jugantar Party, a militant revolutionary organization which "used murder as a political technique to dislodge British colonial rule." She trained in self-defense with swords, clubs, and firearms.

Assassination of Charles Stevens

On 14 December 1931, Ghose and Suniti Chowdhury both 16 at that time, walked into the office of Charles Geoffrey Buckland Stevens, a British bureaucrat and the district magistrate of Comilla, under the pretense that they wanted to present candies and chocolates to the magistrate prior to Christmas as he would be gone to Britain during the same. While Stevens ate the candy and said "These are delicious!", Ghose and Chowdhury removed automatic pistols which were hidden under their shawls and said "Well how about this one Mr. Magistrate?" and shot and killed him.

Trial and sentence

The girls were taken into custody and imprisoned in the local British jail. In February 1932, Ghose and Chowdhury appeared in court in Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta), and were sentenced to transportation for life (lifelong banishment). In an interview, they stated, "It is better to die than live in a horse's stable." Ghose said that she was disappointed that she had not been sentenced to hanging and would thus not be able to achieve martyrdom. Ghose was subjected to humiliation and physical abuse in prison and was treated as a "second-class prisoner." In 1939, after having served seven years of her sentence, she was released because of the amnesty negotiations between Gandhi and the British colonial authorities.

Public and media response

Contemporary Western periodicals portrayed the assassination as a sign of "Indians' outrage against an ordinance by the Earl of Willingdon that suppressed the civil rights of Indians, including that of free speech." Indian sources characterized the assassination as Ghose and Chowdbury's response to the "misbehaviors of the British district magistrates" who, secure in their positions of power, had sometimes molested Indian women. After the verdict was announced, a flyer was found by the intelligence branch of police in the Rajshahi district praising Ghose and Chowdbury as nationalist heroines. The poster read, "THOU ART FREEDOM'S NOW, AND FAME'S" and displayed photographs of the two girls alongside lines from Robert Burns' poem ''

Scots Wha Hae "Scots Wha Hae" ( English: ''Scots Who Have'') is a patriotic song of Scotland written using both words of the Scots language and English, which served for centuries as an unofficial national anthem of the country, but has lately been largely ...

'': "Tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty's in every blow!"

Later life and death

After her release, Ghose attended the Bengali Women's College and participated in India's Communist movement. She later joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. In 1942, Ghose married Professor Chittaranjan Das. She served on the West Bengal Legislative Council from 1952–62 and 1967–68. She also served on the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paścimabaṅga Vidhānasabhā'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal, located in eastern India. It consists of 294 members directly elected from single-seat ...

from 1962–64. Ghose wrote and published a book entitled ''Arun Bahni''. Ghose died in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghose, Santi 1916 births 1989 deaths Revolutionaries of Bengal during British Rule Indian nationalist assassins Indian revolutionaries Indian people convicted of murder West Bengal MLAs 1962–1967 Politicians from Kolkata Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal Women in West Bengal politics 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Comilla Victoria Government College alumni Female revolutionaries Indian independence activists from Bengal