We all have grown up listening to the tales of our brave-heart freedom fighters sacrificing their lives for the freedom of our nation. Some took the path of non-violence and some seized the path of violence, but both the ways directed us to the liberation that we enjoy today. These great freedom fighters influenced us and our entire generation throughout our history. But the tragic part is that our history topics cannot essentially include all the tales from the freedom fight, and therefore, some fascinating stories are overlooked with the passing time. The story of 3 young freedom fighters, Badal, Binoy, and Dinesh is one of the forgotten stories from the freedom fight. So, let's not forget this short but significant tale of 3 young lads who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
The day was 8th December 1930, at the Writer's Building in Kolkata, the capital during the British rule. British officers and other Bengali gentlemen were working as usual. It was then that three young boys broke down their harmony with a roar that would now echo through our generations. The trio of Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh rewrote the opinions of revolution in Kolkata. They were just like other Indians with a hunger to behold free India. Benoy Krishna Basu was born on 11 September 1908, in the village Rohitbhog in the Munshiganj District, now in Bangladesh. Under the influence of Hemchandra Ghosh, a revolutionary of Dhaka, Benoy entered ‘Mukti Sangha’, a secret society nearly related to the Jugantar Party. He could not obtain his career in medical studies due to his alliance with revolutionary movements with the Bengal Volunteers.
Even Dinesh Gupta was born in Bangladesh but in a different village named Josholong in Munshiganj District on 6 December 1911. When Dinesh was studying at Dhaka College, he joined Bengal Volunteers, a group organized by Subhash Chandra Bose. And soon the Bengal Volunteers transformed itself into a more actively revolutionary association and planned to execute infamous British police officers. Dinesh trained some revolutionaries who were responsible to assassinate three District Magistrates in sequence, Douglas, Burge, and Peddy.
Badal Gupta was born in 1912 as Sudhir Gupta in the village Shimulia in the Bikrampur region of Dhaka, now in Munshiganj District, Bangladesh. He was vastly inspired by Nikunj Sen, a teacher of the Banaripara school of Bikrampur. Badal similarly enrolled in the Bengal Volunteers as a member. Eventually, when Badal, Binoy, and Dinesh met at the Bengal Volunteers, their purpose was just to shake the entire British empire. And they fulfilled it when they got an opportunity in the conflict of Writer's Building in Kolkata.
When the Bengal Volunteers association targeted N.S. Simpson, the Inspector General of Prisons, who was infamous for his brutal and inhuman oppression of the prisoners in the jails. The three freedom fighters not only decided to assassinate him but similarly to blow fear in the British official circles by initiating an attack on the Secretariat building - The Writer's Building in the Dalhousie Square in Kolkata. On 8 December 1930, Dinesh, Benoy, and Badal, dressed in the sophisticated European attire, entered the Writer's Building and turned on an open fire and fired shots as soon as they saw Simpson, who died immediately. Other British officers in the building like Twynam, Prentice, and Nelson underwent fatal injuries during the shootout.
Soon the whole police force overpowered them, but the trio did not surrender. Badal took Potassium Cyanide and died on the spot at the age of around 22, while Binoy and Dinesh shot themselves with their revolvers. Somehow, Benoy was taken to the hospital where he died on 13 December 1930 when he was barely around 22 years old. Even Dinesh survived the deadly injury, but he was convicted and the verdict of the trial was death by hanging. While foreseeing his execution, he wrote several letters from his prison cell on the courage of the freedom fighters and his belief in the greatness of self-sacrifice for the nation. Dinesh was only 19 years old when he was hanged on 7 July 1931 at Alipore Jail.
These three young and brave freedom fighters were treated as martyrs in Bengal and other parts of India. And after the independence, Dalhousie Square was named “B.B.D. Bagh” - after the Binoy, Badal, and Dinesh. The Writers' Building was designed by Thomas Lyon in 1777, and it still serves as the Secretariat Building of the state government of West Bengal. Even after these forgotten freedom fighters and their stories are lost somewhere in the vast history of liberation, we must pay respect to these precious patriotic sons of India, who are still an inspiration to millions of proud Indians.
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Reference:
(www.uniindia.com / www.english.kolkata12×7.com / Wikipedia)