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

Indian nationalist Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which 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, ...

who, along with

Suniti Choudhury Suniti Choudhury (22 May 1917 – 12 January 1988) was an Indian nationalist who, along with Santi Ghose, assassinated a British district magistrate when she was 16 years old and is known for her participation in an armed revolutionary struggle. ...

, 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 Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta). India. She belongs to Yadav caste and was the daughter of Debendranath Ghose, a nationalist and a professor of philosophy at Victoria College of Comilla in eastern

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. 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 (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla wa ...

, 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 A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of ''Maschinenpistole'', the German word for submachine guns. Machine ...

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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

Public and media response

Contemporary Western periodicals portrayed the assassination as a sign of "Indians' outrage against an ordinance by the

Earl of Willingdon Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

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'': "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 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 ...

. 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 is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

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 assassins Indian nationalists Indian revolutionaries Indian people convicted of murder Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 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 West Bengal