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Shankar Mahale

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Shankar Mahale
शंकर महाले
Born(1925-01-18)18 January 1925
Nawabpura, Nagpur, Maharastra, India
Died19 January 1943(1943-01-19) (aged 18)
Nagpur Central Jail, Nagpur, Maharastra
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Known forParticipation in Quit India Movement

Shankar Mahale (शंकर महाले, Marathi pronunciation: [ʃəŋkəɾ məɦaːləi]; 18 January 1925 – 19 January 1943) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra who opposed the British Raj. He was arrested along with four other people in the case of the death of a policeman and was later sentenced to death, making him one of the youngest martyrs of the Indian Independence Movement. He was educated up to the fourth standard when he quit school. He joined Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Movement in 1942 and held a job as a mill worker in Nagpur while participating in the movement. Mahale was 18 years and 1 day old at the time of his hanging.[1]

Early life and activism

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Shankar was born on 18 January 1925 in Nagpur, Maharashtra. He dropped out of Government School after the fourth standard because of what he considered rash behavior from British teachers and Indian students. Shankar continued to study history and politics at home under his father Dajiba Mahale, who was a teacher. Shankar joined the Quit India Movement at the age of seventeen after Mahatma Gandhi's "Do or Die" speech.[2][3] Starting on 9 August 1942, Shankar took part in a strike in protest of the ill treatment of factory workers. The protest, during which government offices and police outposts were set on fire, lasted until the 11th.[citation needed]

Death

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Shankar's father Dajiba Mahale was shot to death by police while participating in the Quit India Movement in 1942. In retaliation, Shankar and his colleagues raided the Nagpur police station on the night of 13 August 1942. They raided the police station armed with batons, resulting in the death of a policeman. As they seized arms and ammunition, they were surrounded by armed police reinforcements and eventually captured.[citation needed]

Shankar and his colleagues were put on trial facing capital punishment. Mahale claimed he was solely responsible for the death of the policeman (he later stated his father would not have wanted him to plead for a milder sentence). Ultimately, he was sentenced to death while his colleagues were sentenced to life in prison.[4] On 19 January 1943 at early morning in Nagpur Central Jail, Shankar Mahale was hanged at the age of eighteen.[5] His conspirators' sentences were commuted after the Republic of India was formed.[citation needed]

Legacy

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Martyr Shankar Mahale Statue in Maharashtra
Shrimati Pratibha Patil honors the martyr Shankar Mahale Statue.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had a statue of Shankar Mahale erected in his honor at Nagpur Chowk.

Later Pratibha Patil, the 12th President of India had a small memorial built in the honor of the martyr Shankar on 17 February 2011.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "bhārat kē svatantratā saṅgrām mēṃ kyā thā nāgapur kā yōgadān? paṛhēṃ yahāṃ." भारत के स्वतंत्रता संग्राम में क्या था नागपुर का योगदान? पढ़ें यहां.. [Nagpur has also taken part in the movement of freedom]. Dainik Bhaskar Hindi (in Hindi). 15 August 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  2. ^ "nēharūjīnñcyā icchēnusār tayār jhālē smārak" नेहरूजींच्या इच्छेनुसार तयार झाले स्मारक [The Monument Was Built According To Nehruji's Wishes]. Maharashtra Times (in Marathi). 28 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. ^ "śahīd śaṅkar mahālē yānnā ma.na.pā. tarphē ādarāñjalī" शहीद शंकर महाले यांना म.न.पा.तर्फे आदरांजली [NMC officials pay tribute to martyr Shankar Mahale]. Our Nagpur (in Marathi). 19 January 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  4. ^ Pandharipande, Shyam (14 August 2007). "A historic Congress session and Nagpur's freedom struggle". Two Circles. IANS. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  5. ^ Chopra, Pran Nath (2013). Who's Who of Indian Martyrs, Vol. 1. Public Resource. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. ISBN 978-81-230-1757-0.
  6. ^ "śahīd śaṅkar mahālē yānnā ma.na.pā. tarphē ādarāñjalī" शहीद शंकर महाले यांना म.न.पा.तर्फे आदरांजली [A tribute to the martyr Shankar Mahale NMC]. Nagpur Today (in Marathi). 19 January 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2021.