Batukeshwar Dutt was an Indian revolutionary and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded a few bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi on 8 April 1929.⁣
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He was born to Goshtha Bihari Dutt on 18 November 1910 in a brahmin family in Oari village, west bengal. He was also known as Battu and Mohan.⁣
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Dutt graduated from P. P. N. High School in Kanpur. He was a close associate of freedom fighters such as Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, the latter of whom he met in Cawnpore in 1924. ⁣
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He learned about bomb-making while working for the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) there.⁣
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On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Dutt threw two bombs inside the assembly rushing from Visitor’s Gallery. The smoke from the bomb filled the Hall and they shouted slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad!” and showered leaflets.⁣
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Along with Singh and Sukhdev, Dutt was tried in the Central Assembly Bomb Case, and was sentenced in 1929 to life imprisonment. He was deported to the Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.⁣
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After his release from prison Dutt Contracted tuberculosis. He then participated in the Quit India Movement of Mahatma Gandhi and was again jailed for four years.⁣
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After India gained independence, Independent India did not accord him any recognition, and he spent his remaining life in poverty away from the political limelight. The later life of the freedom fighter was painful and tragic. ⁣
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Dutt had to work as a cigarette company agent, shuttling between Patna’s tobacco shops, or sell biscuits and bread for a living. He was forced into starting a transport business for livelihood. ⁣
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He arrived at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on November 22, 1964, after his condition had deteriorated. Upon his arrival in Delhi, Dutt had reportedly said: “I had never imagined that I would be carried like a cripple to the city where I had thrown a bomb and shouted slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.”⁣