Kakori train robbery wouldn’t have happened without her

As the nation readies to celebrate yet another Independence Day, www.lifeandmore.in remembers freedom fighters who played an important role in helping us breathe in an independent nation. Today, we profile little-known freedom fighter, Rajkumari Gupta, whose heroics made Kakori train robbery possible

There is no authentic photograph or sketch of this freedom fighter though she played an important role in the Kakori train robbery. This is testimony of the fact that there were a number of unsung heroes and heroines who helped us gain independence. Rajkumari Gupta was one such person, the person in-charge of delivering firearms to the freedom fighters for the famous Kakori train robbery.

Born in 1902 in Banda district of Kanpur to a grocer father and mother who practised purdah, Rajkumari was married off at 13 to Madan Mohan Gupta. A freedom fighter, Gupta was an active participant in the Congress’ activities and inspired his wife to join the freedom struggle, following the footsteps of Gandhi.

But she got influenced by freedom fighters who preferred arms over ahimsa. This resulted in her getting closely associated with Chandrashekhar Azad and his group. Over time, Rajkumari started supported him by carrying secret messages and materials from one place to another, one freedom fighter to another. All this happened without the knowledge of her in-laws and even her husband.

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She often carried firearms from one place to the other. One fateful day, she was arrested while crossing the fields with her three-year-old son, the firearms hidden under her garments. No sooner did the news of her arrest reached her in-laws, they disowned her and went on to get an article published in a local newspaper stating that they have no relationship with her. Rajkumari is said to have served jail terms in 1930, 1932 and 1942. Not much is known about her life after she was disowned by her family.