286. Nani Bala devi (1888-1967)

Nonibala Devi (1888-1967) was born in 1888 in Bali of Howrah in a typical Brahmin family She was the first female revolutionary of Bengal.. She was married at the age of 11 and widowed at the age of 16, but refused to live a secluded life, as was the fate of most widows of those times. 

Instead, she was initiated by her nephew and joined the Jugantar Party, one of the most  powerful revolutionary groups, which was led by her nephew, Amarendranath Chattopadhyay.  In a few years time, Nanibala began to actively contribute to the nation's cause through her organisation.She supported the network's activities and, like the most revolutionaries, came to be convinced that the British could be ousted only through force. She gave shelter to Amarenranath and  some colleagues for two months in Rishra. In 1915, the revolutionary Ramchandra Majumdar, jailed in Presidency Jail, forgot to intimate any one the place where he had kept the Pistal. Nanibala wearing a dress as the wife of Ramchandra and met him in the jail to get the required information. She gave shelter to the underground revolutionaries in Chandannagar as a house lady.  To escape from the eyes of police she went to Peshwar.  But she was arrested in Peshawar while she was suffering from Cholera on the plea of possessing arms and ammunition and deported Banaras . As the police could get  any information from her  they sent her to Presidency jail in 1818. She had undergone fasting for 21 days. Nanibala was the first and only woman to be tortured by the police under the Regulation III of 1818. She also became the Calcutta jail's first woman prisoner. She was released after two years of imprisonment.

Even in imprisonment, she did not refrain from showing her resent­ment against the British, both through speech and action. She was released in 1919 but she did not get any shelter after her release and had to pass her days in a delapidated thatched cottage with great difficulty years after years. She died in 1967.