Revolutionary Matangini Hazra was killed in a police firing on this day in Midnapore.

She lived in a village near Tamluk. She had been widowed at 18.

In the 1930s, she took part in the Civil Disobedience movement by preparing salt with others from her locality and was arrested. Later, she participated in the protests against the “Chowkidari tax” and joined a procession shouting slogans. She was in her sixties by then. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment and sent to Behrampore jail.

She was an active member of Indian National Congress. Hazra worked tirelessly among those afflicted with cholera and smallpox. She was affectionately called “Gandhiburi”, “buri” meaning old woman in Bengali.

In 1942, Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar, a parallel government, had been established in Tamluk. On September 29, the 72-year-old Hazra, participating in a Quit India movement protest, was leading a procession, when the police started firing, scattering the protesters. According to a report, holding the national flag, she stepped up and was killed in the firing.

She remains one of the most remarkable figures of the Indian freedom struggle.

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