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Addu Gullari

(★ – 1943) – (Odisha)

Addu Gullari was a resident of Koraput, Orissa (Odisha), India, and was involved in political activities against colonial rule since the Non-Cooperation movement. He actively participated in the Quit India agitation that began on 8 August 1942 in Odisha, responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s nationwide call.

Due to his anti-British role, he was arrested by the British police and put behind bars with other agitators in Nowrangpur (Nabarangpur) Sub-Jail as an under-trial political prisoner. There, he suffered from acute intestinal obstruction due to unhygienic living conditions and a lack of medical care, resulting in his admission to the hospital on 2 March 1943.

The Inspector General (Prisons) later admitted his department’s responsibility for the unhealthy conditions prevailing in the Nowrangpur Sub-Jail: “I see that in June 1943, a report on the conditions in the Sub-Jail was obtained,” indicating a very unsatisfactory state of affairs at Nowrangpur.

Under these circumstances, he and other political prisoners were shifted to Koraput District Jail, where Addu Gullari died of heart failure on 3 March 1943.