Saquib Salim

“After the arrest of so many revolutionaries all over India in the Lahore Conspiracy case and; the absconding of Bhagwati Charan who was also wanted in connection with this conspiracy, Durga Bhabi bravely took up to look after the relations of arrested revolutionaries. Her home became a regular Serai for all revolutionaries to live as guests.” Ram Chandra, one of her closest friends and revolutionary, wrote these words while recalling the role of Durga Devi Vohra or Durgawati Devi more popularly known as Durga Bhabhi.

In a galaxy of male revolutionaries in the Indian Freedom Struggle, Durga Bhabhi is a Venus, the brightest in the sky. Married to another very prominent revolutionary of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) led by Chandrashekhar Azad, Durga Bhabhi worked as a spy for revolutionaries and led attacks on British establishments. 

Almost every Indian knows about Bhagat Singh and that he killed a British officer to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai. It was Durga Bhabhi who ensured that Bhagat Singh and his other comrades could escape the arrest. Ram Chandra wrote, “After the murder, Rupees Five Hundred which Bhagwati Chara had left with Durga Bhabhi for an expected emergency were taken from her, and arrangements were made for the journeys of the actors in this heroic drama. In the dead of night when the Police had left Bhagwati Charan’s house, Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev, and Raj guru came to Bhagwati Charan's house … Durga Devi cooked and served a nice dinner…They slept for the night in the house and left Lahore by the morning Calcutta mail. Bhagat Singh, Durga Bhabhi, and her 2-year-old son Sachi occupied a First Class compartment as Sahib, mem, and their son. Rajguru sat in a Third Class servants compartment and left the company at Lucknow. They arrived at Calcutta where they were received by Bhagwati Charan and Sushila. Bhagwati Chara was glad at his wife's daring act, politically as well as socially, in accompanying Bhagat Singh to Calcutta as Mem Sahib.”

Durga Bhabhi was part of the plan to throw bombs in the Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt. After Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries were arrested and Bhagwati Charan absconded to avoid an arrest “Durga Bhabhi became a post box of revolutionaries to send, receive and pass on the messages. She kept contact with the Defence Lawyers also and received from them inquiries addressed to revolutionaries and conveyed their replies and messages to the lawyers.”

Bhagwati Charan and Durga Bhabhi planned to free Bhagat Singh by bombing the police van and taking him to court. Unfortunately, Bhagwati died when a bomb exploded during the testing on 28 May 1930. After her husband died she became more fearless. In her own words, “I told (Chandrashekhar) Azad that I wanted my full share of revolutionary work.”

Around this time she was actively smuggling arms for the revolutionaries, meeting Bhagat Singh in a Burqa (Veil) and other revolutionaries in jail, and passing on messages from one place to another. But the real glory was still waiting for her.

A death sentence was pronounced for Bhagat Singh in October 1930. Durga Bhabhi decided to demonstrate ‘retaliation’ and thus decided to attack the Governor of Punjab. K Maclean writes, “However security around the house where he was staying in Malabar was such that they could not approach it. Frustrated, they decided to target a police station instead and finally saw ‘two Britishers’ standing near the police station on Lamington Road.

According to Durga Devi, Prithvi Singh cried ‘Shoot!’ and together they opened fire; she recalled firing three or four times.” The press declared this shooting of two Europeans by a revolutionary woman as “the first instance in which a woman figured prominently in a terrorist outrage”.

The police couldn’t arrest her and she campaigned in support of Bhagat Singh. Durga Bhabhi met Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders to convince them to put Bhagat Singh’s release as a condition of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. 

Durga Bhabhi was arrested in 1932 by the police and was released with as general amnesty. She remained active in the freedom struggle as a Congress worker and taught at school later.