Freedom fighter Nellie Sengupta passed away on this day. Born to British parents, she had come to India and joined the Independence movement.

Her original name was Edith Ellen Gray. She met freedom fighter Jatindra Mohan Sengupta in England. They married and came back to the country.

Jatindra Mohan, who established himself as a successful lawyer in Calcutta, became closely associated with M.K. Gandhi. Nellie joined the Non-cooperation Movement with her husband and supported the strike organised by him of the workers of Burma Oil Company in Chittagong and of Assam Bengal Railway.

After her husband’s arrest, she made speeches in public and was arrested. She was imprisoned in Delhi later for addressing an unlawful assembly.

She became Calcutta’s first woman alderman and was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1933. Jatindra Mohan had died that year in a Ranchi prison. After independence, Nellie lived in Chittagong and was dedicated to social work.

The Pakistan government did not like her presence. She came to Calcutta for treatment in 1970 and passed away in the city.

She had received the Padma Vibhushan award from the Indian government.

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