Bela Mitra, née Bose (1920 – 31 July 1952) was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

revolutionary involved with the Jhansi Rani Regiment, the Women's Regiment of the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...

, and a social worker.

Family

Mitra was born as Amita or Bela Bose in Kolkata in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Her father was Suresh Chandra Bose. She was the niece of

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

. She married freedom fighter Haridas Mitra in 1936. Haridas later became the deputy Speaker of West Bengal Assembly. Their son

Amit Mitra Dr. Amit Mitra is an Indian economist and politician and the current Special Advisor to Chief Minister of West Bengal on Finance. Previously he was the Finance, Commerce & Industries Minister of the government of Indian state of West Bengal. ...

is an economist and present finance Minister of the State of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

Activities

Mitra took active part in anti British movement since 1940 while Subhas Chandra Bose left Ramgarh Session of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. Her husband Haridas Mitra was a member of secret service team of

Azad Hind Fauj The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Collaboration with the Axis powers, collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during Worl ...

. Smt. Mitra joined in Indian National Army and worked in Jhansi Rani Brigade. She gave shelters to the revolutionaries came outside of India, operated transmitter of

Azad Hind Radio Azad Hind Radio () was a radio service that was started under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in 1942 to encourage Indians to fight for the Axis powers. Though initially based in Nazi Germany, its headquarte ...

and sent information to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

since January to October in 1944. When her husband Haridas Mitra was arrested and sentenced to death on 21 June 1945, she went to

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, and prayed to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to pursue for her husband's acquittal to the British Government. Gandhi wrote letters to the then

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

Lord Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...

to commute the death sentence, and subsequently Haridas Mitra got released along with three other freedom fighters Jyotish Basu, Amar Singh Gill, and Pabitra Roy. In 1947 Smt. Mitra formed a social organisation, Jhansir Rani Relief Team. In 1950 she started worked in Abhaynagar near

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

for the development of refugees came from

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

Legacy

Smt Mitra died in 1952. Belanagar railway station in

Howrah district Howrah district (, ) is a district of the West Bengal state in eastern India. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. The urbanised sectors gradually increase the slum populations. Howrah is the third smallest distric ...

on the Howrah-Bardhaman Chord line, is named after her in 1958. This was the first Railway station in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

named after any Indian woman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Bela 1920 births 1952 deaths Indian independence activists from Bengal Indian National Army personnel Indian people of World War II Indian revolutionaries Indian women in World War II People from Kolkata Social workers from West Bengal