Nira Arya
Born on March 5, 1902, in Khekra Nagar, United Provinces, to the esteemed businessman Seth Chhajjumal, whose business spanned the nation. Nira Arya was a courageous freedom fighter, pioneering female spy, and soldier in the Rani Jhansi Regiment of the Azad Hind Fauj.
In Bhagwanpur village near Calcutta, she began her education under Bani Ghosh, learning Sanskrit. She then pursued further studies in Calcutta, mastering Hindi, English, Bengali, and numerous other languages. Eventually, she married Srikant Jairanjan Das, a dedicated CID inspector and loyal British officer.
In a fervent act of patriotism, she killed her husband, Jairanjan Das, who had been tasked with assassinating Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. When Jairanjan mistakenly shot their driver instead of Netaji, she stabbed him with a bayonet to protect Netaji. Due to her actions, Netaji nicknamed her Nagini. After the surrender of Azad Hind Fauj, she was sentenced to black water on the charges of killing her husband, where she was served to be tortured.
One night in the Cellular Jail, two guards arrived at her cell at midnight and threw two blankets on her. Though she felt insulted, she was grateful for the blankets. The next morning, a jailer accompanied by a blacksmith came to her cell and ordered the blacksmith to remove the chains from her neck, hands, and legs. While cutting the chains, the blacksmith accidentally cut some of her flesh, which she tolerated. However, when he began removing the shackles from her legs, he struck her bone multiple times, causing her to scream, “Are you blind?” He coldly replied, “I can hit your heart as well, and you can do nothing about it.”
The jailer, observing the situation closely, approached and said, “If you tell us where Subhas Bose is, we will let you go.”
“He died in a plane crash” she replied “and everybody knows this”
“You are lying” shouted the jailor “he is still alive so tell us where he is”
“He is in my heart” replied the brave prisoner.
The jailer declared, “If he is in your heart, we will remove him from there,” and ordered the blacksmith to rip off her breast. The blacksmith took a large tool, placed it on her right breast, and began pressing, but the tool lacked sharp edges, causing excruciating pain. The jailer then struck her neck and warned, “If you ever fight again, these two balloons of yours will be removed from your chest.”
LAST DAYS OF LIFE
In her final days, she survived by selling flowers in Falaknuma, Hyderabad. Her hut was demolished for being on government land. She died impoverished, helpless, and ill on Sunday, July 26, 1998, at Osmania Hospital near Charminar, Hyderabad.
