Bina Das

Das was a member of ''[[Chhatri Sangha]]'', a semi-revolutionary organisation for women in [[Kolkata]]. On 6 February 1932, she attempted to assassinate the Bengal Governor [[Stanley Jackson (cricketer)|Stanley Jackson]], in the Convocation Hall of the [[University of Calcutta]]. The revolver was supplied by another freedom fighter [[Kamala Das Gupta]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68xTBT1-H4IC&q=Kamala+Das+Gupta&pg=PA87|title=The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India 1800-1990|last=Kumar|first=Radha|date=1997|publisher=Zubaan|isbn=9788185107769|language=en}}</ref> She fired five shots but none hit him.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WPBYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4036,4976689 Five shots fired at governor] ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'', 8 February 1932, p. 11</ref> Her confession, which ran to five pages long and was written in English, was censored by the British colonial administration, but still found itself widely circulated. In it, she wrote that:{{blockquote|"My object was to die, and if to die, to die nobly fighting against this despotic system of Government, which has kept my country in perpetual subjection to its infinite shame and endless suffering – and fighting in a way which cannot but tell... I have been thinking – is life worth living in an India so subjected to wrong, and continually groaning under the tyranny of a foreign Government, or is it not better to make one's supreme protest against it by offering one's life away? Would not the immolation of a daughter of India and of a son of England awaken India to the sin of its acquiescence to its continued state of subjection and England to the iniquities of its proceedings?"<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12017|doi = 10.1111/1468-0424.12017|title = Revolutionary Women and Nationalist Heroes in Bengal, 1930 to the 1980s|year = 2013|last1 = Ghosh|first1 = Durba|journal = Gender & History|volume = 25|issue = 2|pages = 355–375| s2cid=143325110 |url-access = subscription}}</ref>}} The Special Tribunal convened to judge her sentenced her to nine years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of attempted murder under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YB8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3OEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4930,2340793 Girl, would-be assassin, gets nine years in India] at ''[[Reading Eagle]]'', 15 February 1932</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-forgotten-female-freedom-fighters-2402311|title=Bina Das, Forgotten female freedom fighters|date=15 April 2017|website=dnaindia.com|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>

Das was a member of ''[[Chhatri Sangha]]'', a semi-revolutionary organisation for women in [[Kolkata]]. On 6 February 1932, she attempted to assassinate the Bengal Governor [[Stanley Jackson (cricketer)|Stanley Jackson]], in the Convocation Hall of the [[University of Calcutta]]. The revolver was supplied by another freedom fighter [[Kamala Das Gupta]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68xTBT1-H4IC&q=Kamala+Das+Gupta&pg=PA87|title=The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India 1800-1990|last=Kumar|first=Radha|date=1997|publisher=Zubaan|isbn=9788185107769|language=en}}</ref> She fired five shots but none hit him.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WPBYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4036,4976689 Five shots fired at governor] ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'', 8 February 1932, p. 11</ref> Her confession, which ran to five pages long and was written in English, was censored by the British colonial administration, but still found itself widely circulated. In it, she wrote that:{{blockquote|"My object was to die, and if to die, to die nobly fighting against this despotic system of Government, which has kept my country in perpetual subjection to its infinite shame and endless suffering – and fighting in a way which cannot but tell... I have been thinking – is life worth living in an India so subjected to wrong, and continually groaning under the tyranny of a foreign Government, or is it not better to make one's supreme protest against it by offering one's life away? Would not the immolation of a daughter of India and of a son of England awaken India to the sin of its acquiescence to its continued state of subjection and England to the iniquities of its proceedings?"<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12017|doi = 10.1111/1468-0424.12017|title = Revolutionary Women and Nationalist Heroes in Bengal, 1930 to the 1980s|year = 2013|last1 = Ghosh|first1 = Durba|journal = Gender & History|volume = 25|issue = 2|pages = 355–375| s2cid=143325110 |url-access = subscription}}</ref>}} The Special Tribunal convened to judge her sentenced her to nine years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of attempted murder under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YB8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3OEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4930,2340793 Girl, would-be assassin, gets nine years in India] at ''[[Reading Eagle]]'', 15 February 1932</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-forgotten-female-freedom-fighters-2402311|title=Bina Das, Forgotten female freedom fighters|date=15 April 2017|website=dnaindia.com|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref>

After her release from jail,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=P9oYG7HA76QC&dat=19390403&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Bina Das released from jail], Indian Express, 3 April 1939</ref> she became active in the [[Indian National Congress]], participated in the [[Quit India Movement]] and was imprisoned till 1945.  After independence, she was elected to the provincial assembly, but Bina Das left the Congress due to ideological differences.

After her release from jail,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=P9oYG7HA76QC&dat=19390403&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Bina Das released from jail], Indian Express, 3 April 1939</ref> she became active in the [[Indian National Congress]], participated in the [[Quit India Movement]] and was imprisoned till 1945. After independence, she was elected to the provincial assembly, but Bina Das left Congress due to ideological differences.

In 1947, she married Jatish Chandra Bhaumik, an Indian independence movement activist of the [[Jugantar]] group.<ref name="s" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rajesh |first=K. Guru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_dLCgAAQBAJ&dq=provincial+assembly+Bina+Das&pg=PT697 |title=Sarfarosh: A Naadi Exposition of the Lives of Indian Revolutionaries |publisher=Notion Press |isbn=978-93-5206-173-0 |language=en}}</ref>

Though she didn't join the Communist Party, she was attracted to socialist and communist ideals. She believed that [[Marxism]] should be re-established according to the needs of the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loomba |first=Ania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3axvDwAAQBAJ&dq=bina+das+communist&pg=PT235 |title=Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India |date=2018-07-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-20969-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Though she didn't join the Communist Party, the revolutionary Bina Das was attracted to socialist and communist ideals. She believed that [[Marxism]] should be re-established according to the needs of the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loomba |first=Ania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3axvDwAAQBAJ&dq=bina+das+communist&pg=PT235 |title=Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India |date=2018-07-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-20969-4 |language=en}}</ref>

She was a friend of [[Suhasini Ganguly]], a freedom fighter.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chatterjee|first=India|year=1988|title=The Bengali Bhadramahila —Forms of Organisation in the Early Twentieth Century|url=http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20files%2045/26.%20The%20Bengali%20Bhadramahila.pdf|journal=Manushi|pages=33–34|access-date=21 December 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035318/http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20files%2045/26.%20The%20Bengali%20Bhadramahila.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She was a friend of [[Suhasini Ganguly]], a freedom fighter.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chatterjee|first=India|year=1988|title=The Bengali Bhadramahila —Forms of Organisation in the Early Twentieth Century|url=http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20files%2045/26.%20The%20Bengali%20Bhadramahila.pdf|journal=Manushi|pages=33–34|access-date=21 December 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035318/http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20files%2045/26.%20The%20Bengali%20Bhadramahila.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Personal Life==

In 1947, she married Jatish Chandra Bhaumik, an Indian independence movement activist of the [[Jugantar]] group.<ref name="s" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rajesh |first=K. Guru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_dLCgAAQBAJ&dq=provincial+assembly+Bina+Das&pg=PT697 |title=Sarfarosh: A Naadi Exposition of the Lives of Indian Revolutionaries |publisher=Notion Press |isbn=978-93-5206-173-0 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Death ===

=== Death ===