Durgawati Devi

[1] After Bhagat Singh surrendered himself for the 1929 Assembly bomb throwing incident, Devi attempted to assassinate Lord Hailey; he escaped, but some of his associates were injured.

[3] Two days after killing John P. Saunders, on 19 December 1928, Sukhdev Thapar called on Devi for help, which she agreed to do.

They decided to catch the train departing from Lahore for Bathinda en route to Howrah (Calcutta) early the next morning.

She posed as the wife of Singh and put her son Sachin in his lap while Shivaram Rajguru carried their luggage as their servant.

To avoid recognition, Singh had shaved off his beard and cut his hair short the previous day and dressed in Western attire.

[4] Unlike other freedom fighters, after Indian independence, Devi started living as a common citizen in quiet anonymity and exclusion in Ghaziabad.

[1] A small reference to her character was seen in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2006 film Rang De Basanti, where Soha Ali Khan played her part.