Kushal Konwar (Aged 38), an Indian-Assamese freedom fighter from Assam, was born on March 21, 1905 in Sarupathar, Golaghat, Assam, India. He happened to be the only martyr in India who was hanged during the last phase of the Quit India Movement of 1942-43.
Inspired by Gandhiji’s ideals of Swaraj, Truth and Ahimsa, Konwar set up a primary school at Bengmai and served as its honorary teacher. In Sarupathar in Golaghat district, many people of the British military were killed due to derailment. Angered by this, the British caught the innocents and imprisoned them. Kushal Konwar was one of them. He was held in court as the mastermind of this event.
In the Court of CM Humphrey, Kushal Konwar was declared guilty, though there was not a single proof against him. Kushal was sentenced to death by hanging. He accepted the verdict with dignity. When his wife, Prabhavati, visited him in the Jorhat jail, he told her that he was proud that God had selected him to be the only one among the thousands of prisoners to give the supreme sacrifice for the country.
Kushal spent his remaining days in the death row cell of Jorhat jail in prayers and reading the Gita. At dawn on June 15, 1943 at 4:30 am, Kushal Konwar was hanged in Jorhat Jail. He sacrificed his life knowing as Mahatma said: “He alone can be a true satyagrahi who knows the art of living and dying.” He passed away on June 15, 1943, in Assam, India.
Kushal Konwar
(1905 – 1943) – (Assam)
Kushal Konwar (Aged 38), an Indian-Assamese freedom fighter from Assam, was born on March 21, 1905 in Sarupathar, Golaghat, Assam, India. He happened to be the only martyr in India who was hanged during the last phase of the Quit India Movement of 1942-43.
Inspired by Gandhiji’s ideals of Swaraj, Truth and Ahimsa, Konwar set up a primary school at Bengmai and served as its honorary teacher. In Sarupathar in Golaghat district, many people of the British military were killed due to derailment. Angered by this, the British caught the innocents and imprisoned them. Kushal Konwar was one of them. He was held in court as the mastermind of this event.
In the Court of CM Humphrey, Kushal Konwar was declared guilty, though there was not a single proof against him. Kushal was sentenced to death by hanging. He accepted the verdict with dignity. When his wife, Prabhavati, visited him in the Jorhat jail, he told her that he was proud that God had selected him to be the only one among the thousands of prisoners to give the supreme sacrifice for the country.
Kushal spent his remaining days in the death row cell of Jorhat jail in prayers and reading the Gita. At dawn on June 15, 1943 at 4:30 am, Kushal Konwar was hanged in Jorhat Jail. He sacrificed his life knowing as Mahatma said: “He alone can be a true satyagrahi who knows the art of living and dying.” He passed away on June 15, 1943, in Assam, India.
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