Sushila Mohan popularly known as Sushila Didi, (5 March 1905 – 13 January 1963) was a major figure in India's revolutionary freedom struggle movement.

Early life

She was born to an army doctor in the Punjab province of

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during and after the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spice trade, spices. The search for ...

and did her studies from the Arya women's college in

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

. She was known for writing nationalist poems and started participating in nationalist politics during her college life.

History

When Sushila Didi was a college student, the execution by hanging of Indian freedom fighters raised nationalism in her. In 1926, she joined the

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was a radical left-wing Indian revolutionary organization, founded by Sachindranath Sanyal. After ...

to contribute to India's freedom fight. When

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the deat ...

and

Batukeshwar Dutt Batukeshwar Dutta (or Dutta; 18 November 1910 – 20 July 1965) was an Indian socialist and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded two bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly ...

were caught after throwing a bomb on the assembly, Sushila didi and Durga Bhabhi together helped the other revolutionaries to escape. On 1 October 1931, she along with others, shot European Sergeant Taylor and his wife. To defend the case for the prisoners, she donated 10 tola of gold which was kept by his late mother for the purpose of her marriage. Wearing a masculine garb, she participated in the freedom movement and after joining

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokamānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

's extremist party. Later she was arrested and sent to jail.

References

{{Authority control 1905 births 1963 deaths Indian revolutionaries People from Jalandhar Indian independence activists Indian women activists Indian independence activists from Punjab Province (British India)