Prafulla Chaki was a revolutionary freedom fighter. He was part of the Jugantar group and its revolutionary activities. The assassination of influential British officials was the main agenda behind the organization of the Jugantar group. He is famous for organizing the assassination of Magistrate Kingsford along with his friend Khudiram Bose, by throwing a bomb into his car. However, the plan unexpectedly failed when the carriage in which they threw the bomb was not carrying Mr. Kingsford. In this attack, two English women who were traveling in Kingsford’s car were killed. Prafulla Chaki committed suicide when a British police officer tried to arrest her on May 1, 1908. Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose were accused of murdering the two British women. Shortly after Prafulla Chaki’s suicide and Khudiram Bose’s arrest, in one of the freedom struggle campaigns, Mahatma Gandhi announced that violent methods would not give India independence, and he regretted Prafulla Chaki’s suicide. However, the great Indian revolutionary freedom fighter, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, praised the assassination attempt by Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose in his Marathi newspaper Kesari and raised his voice against the British rule in India while demanding Indian independence. Shortly after his statement, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested by the British authorities on charges of sedition and the news he published in his newspaper against the British. In his newspaper, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote,
Rulers who always use unrestrained power must remember that human patience always has its limits”. Thus, “violence, however deplorable, becomes inevitable.”
Article by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his Marathi newspaper Kesari 12 May 1908 titled The Countrys Misfortune
Wiki/Biography
Prafulla Chaki was born on Monday, 10 December 1888 (age 19; at death) in Bogra district, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh). His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He got his primary school education from Namuja Janada Prasad English School. He then studied up to grade 9 at Rangpur Zilla School. Later, he went to Rangpur National School to further his education.
Physical appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is Rajnarayan Chaki, and he is a Nagar farm worker. His mother’s name is Swarnomoyee Devi. His brother’s name is Pratap Chandra Chaki.
Pratap Chaki, brother of Prafulla Chaki
He is the youngest of five siblings. His grandson’s name is Madhabi Taludar.
Wife & Children
He is not married.
religion
Hindu
Caste
He belonged to the Kayastha community.
Early Life
Prafulla Chaki was born in a family to do wells in Bihar. His ancestors came from a village in the Bogra district of Bangladesh. Initially, Bosu was the real surname of Prafulla Chaki’s family. He acquired his high school education at his sister-in-law’s place in Rangpur. He started participating in the Indian independence movement when he was studying in the ninth grade following his expulsion from Rangpur Zilla School when he was involved in student protests against the East Bengal Act. Soon after leaving Rangpur Zilla school, he started studying at Rangpur National School. At Rangpur National School, he met famous Indian freedom fighters like Jitendranarayan Roy, Abinash Chakravarti, Ishan Chandra Chakravarti, and was inclined towards patriotism.
Revolutionary Activities
Once, in his village Rangpur, one of the founders of the Jugantar organization, Barindra Kumar Ghosh visited. Prafulla Chaki met him and showed interest in joining the revolutionary activities organized by the Jugantar group to uproot the British rule in India. Soon after, Barindra Kumar Ghosh brought Prafulla Chaki to Kolkata and got his name registered in the Jugantar Group. The assassination of the first Lieutenant Governor of East Bengal and Assam, Sir Joseph Bampfylde Fuller, was Prafulla Chaki’s first mission shortly after joining the Jugantar Group. The assignment was not completed by Prafulla for several reasons.
The Attempted Assassination of Douglas Kingsford
The second major responsibility given to Prafulla was to kill the magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Douglas Kingsford. It is believed that Kingsford was a very cruel Kolkata Magistrate who often signed death sentences to Bengali political workers, and was hated by the people of Bengal. Kingsford was very harsh towards the innocent Bengalis who led the revolutionaries plotting his murder. Prafulla Chaki, along with Khudiram Bose, was given the responsibility of carrying out the murder. Dinesh Chandra Ray is a fake name adopted by Prafulla Chaki during the show. Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose kept Kingsford and his activities a secret for days before trying to kill him. They realized that Kingsford often traveled through his carriage at the European Club, and they decided to kill him at his gate. On April 30, 1908, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose waited for his carriage through the gates of the European Club. Soon, they threw a bomb into the carriage as it passed through the gate. However, at the scene, they learned that in the carriage, Kingsford was not traveling, and the bomb accidentally killed the two English women who were riding in the carriage. Mr Pringle Kennedy’s wife and daughter were killed in the explosion. Mr. Pringle Kennedy was the principal applicant at the Muzaffarpur Bar. Soon after the accidental death of two British women, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose fled the scene. Both of them chose separate paths to escape from the police. A railway worker named Triguna Charan Ghosh helped Prafulla Chaki in arranging a ticket for him to Mokama.
Death
A British police officer, Nandlal Banerjee was in the same train compartment in which Prafulla Chaki was traveling to Mokama. The police officer identified Prafulla and tried to arrest him. However, Prafulla Chaki shot himself with his own gun. In 1971, a book titled ‘The first spark of revolution: the early phases of India’s struggle for independence, 1900-1920’ was published by Arun Chandra Guha, and he mentioned in the book that Prafulla Chaki shot him under the chin. It states,
A Bengali police officer, Nandalal Banerji was also in the same compartment… Nandalal suspected Prafulla and tried to arrest him. But Prafulla was quite cautious; he put his gun under his own chin and pulled the trigger … This happened on the platform of Mokama station on May 2, 1908.”
Shortly after Prafulla Chaki committed suicide, Khudiram Bose was also arrested by the British authorities. Nandlal Banerjee reportedly beheaded Prafulla Chaki from his body. Later, his body was identified by Khudiram Bose who was arrested and hanged to death. Two revolutionary freedom fighters Srishh Pal and Ranen Ganguly later killed police officer Nandlal Banerjee to avenge the death of Prafulla Chaki. It was a difficult decision for the British authorities to identify Prafulla Chaki’s body as he used the name Dinesh Ray during his mission in the Jugantar Group. It was difficult for the British police to identify Prafulla Chaki after he committed suicide. That is why they cut off his head and buried it in the garden of the Intelligence Bureau office on Lord Sinha Road. Reportedly, his skull was exhumed by IB officials for keeping him in the criminal record in Lalbazar. After many years, a famous historian and professor, Amalendu De, mentioned in his research that Prafulla Chaki’s head was not in the ground where it was buried. He also asked for the DNA of the skull which was kept at Lalbazar. However, the police authorities always refused his request.
Facts/Trivia
- Prafulla Chaki was a famous wrestler and stick fighter during his school days. He is a successful athlete. In her free time after school, she used to ride horses and swim.
- Prafulla Chaki’s grandson, Madhabi Taludar, was found living in a house made up of plastic covers and cans during the COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020, in West Bengal.
The grandson of freedom fighter Prafulla Chandra Chaki lives in a roadside hut made of tin and plastic sheets
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
