No plans to install busts of Ullaskar, Barin at Cellular Jail: Centre
Times of India | 28 March 2025
Kolkata: The Ministry of Culture has confirmed in Parliament that there are no busts of freedom fighters Ullaskar Dutta and Barin Ghosh at the Andaman Cellular Jail, with no plans to install them.
In response to questions raised in the Rajya Sabha by Trinamool Congress MP Ritabrata Banerjee on Thursday, the ministry stated that there are no proposals to honour the two Bengali revolutionaries at the prison site. Both were sentenced to death in the Alipore Bomb Case in 1908. However, upon appeal, their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, and they were subsequently sent to the Cellular Jail.
"Records indicate that Ullaskar Dutta was subjected to torture through electric shocks, with batteries brought from Kolkata for the purpose. Barin Ghosh escaped from the facility in 1915 but was recaptured and placed in solitary confinement for five years," Banerjee said.
"The govt has made its stance clear regarding the contributions of revolutionaries such as Ullaskar Dutta, Barin Ghosh and the people of Bengal," Banerjee added. He alleged that while the govt has actively promoted Veer Savarkar, who was also imprisoned at the Andaman Cellular Jail, it has remained silent on Bengal's role in the freedom struggle.
The ministry's written response on Feb 13 revealed that of the 585 revolutionaries imprisoned at the Cellular Jail between 1909 and 1938, 398 were from undivided Bengal. A subsequent response on March 13 indicated that there are no plans to declare the jail a national monument.
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