This story is about a woman who sacrificed her whole life for a mission. And how an oblivious death made her completely forgotten over time. The most surprising aspect is that this woman completed her work like a mission but never asked for anything from the government.
However, whenever there was an attempt to give her something from the government, she turned it down saying that she did not want this begging. Because whatever she did, she did it considering her duty, never adopted that mission for the greed of money or position. The story is of the first female spy of independent India “Neera Arya”.
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| Neera Arya Freedom Fighter |
Neera Arya was born in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, in 1902. Born in a wealthy family, Neera Arya was fond of playing with dangers since childhood. Her father Seth Chhajjumal had popularity in the area of ​​Baghpat, his business was spread across the country.
Most of the business of Seth Chhajjumal was in the Calcutta at that time i.e. today’s Kolkata. This was the same period when the country was ruled by the British and Seth Chhajjumal had to sit with the British in connection with most of the business. But on the contrary, both the children of Seth Chhajjumal’s family i.e. Neera Arya and her brother were convinced from the beginning that this country is ours and why the British are ruling this country.
However, Neera Arya went to Kolkata with her family and spent a lot of time there. Most of her studies took place in Kolkata. While reading, Neera also started reading in newspapers and magazines about the changing India of that time and the people of India’s independence, then that feeling in her heart became stronger that why these Britishers are ruling our country.
While studying, Neera heard the name of Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata. Because Netaji’s name was taken with great respect in the list of freedom fighters who fought for freedom, it had a great impact on Neera too. Apart from Netaji, Neera read about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru as well as many other freedom fighters.
Neera Arya was very much influenced by the thoughts of Subhas Chandra Bose. She also believed in the right ideology that the country could not get freedom without fighting. However, Gandhiji’s ideology was quite different from this. Meanwhile, Subhash Chandra Bose formed the Azad Hind Fauj. Neera Arya also became impatient to join this Azad Hind Fauj and in this connection Neera Arya met Subhash Chandra Bose and told him about her ideology.
Subhash Chandra Bose was convinced of the thinking and understanding of that grown-up Neera Arya. While Neera Arya was preparing to join Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj, her father Seth Chhajjumal fixed her relationship with a CID officer of the British police. The name of that CID officer was Shrikant Jairanjandas.
Neera Arya now had a wonderful dilemma in front of her. She disliked British rule, but one end of her life was going to be with a police officer who was serving the British. That is, an officer who does intelligence for the British, those people who were working against the British in the freedom struggle of the country.
Since Neera could not resist her father much and Seth Chhajjumal also married Neera to Srikant Jairanjandas, considering her daughter’s future because of a well-educated and influential family according to his understanding. After marriage, Neera went to her in-laws’ house and got busy with her household chores. But she neither changed her ideology.
Along with the house, she continued to be a part of such programs which were being done somewhere for the freedom fighters of India. Due to Neera’s social activities, her husband Shrikant Jairanjandas suspected that his wife must have had some contact with the freedom fighters. Meanwhile, Neera Arya joins the Azad Hind Fauj of Subhas Chandra Bose against the wishes of the family members. The most interesting thing is that Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj also had a spy wing and Pavitra Mohan Roy was commanding this wing.
It was the responsibility of Pavitra Mohan Roy from recruiting spies in the army to train them and then getting them to spy. Mohan Roy had realized that at that time the British officers felt the need for women to work in their homes and offices. So Pavitra Mohan Roy came up with the idea that to keep an eye on the actions of the British officers, such women should be recruited in their spy department, who can be sent to the homes of British officers as domestic servants and get their intelligence.
Pavitra Mohan Roy posted many women spies involved in his department as domestic maids working in the homes of British officers. These female detectives were domestic servants in appearance, but in reality, they were spies of the sacred Mohan Roy’s department. Who could not only understand good English but was also adept at deciphering what was done in codewords?
When Neera Arya joined the Azad Hind Fauj, Mohan Roy made her a part of the same mission. During her espionage days, Neera Arya conveyed information about many major operations of British officers to her department. Due to this, the lives of many revolutionaries could be saved on many occasions. Not only Pavitra Mohan Roy but also Subhash Chandra Bose himself was very much impressed by Neera Arya’s work and he gave Neera Arya the title of the country’s first female spy.
On the other hand, due to suspicion of Neera Arya, her husband Shrikant Jairanjandas started spying on his wife instead of the police department. Within a few days, Shrikant Jairanjandas came to know that Neera Arya is very close to Subhas Chandra Bose, who created the Azad Hind Fauj. Meanwhile, following his wife, Shrikant Jairanjandas reaches the hideout where Subhas Chandra Bose often held secret meetings with his companions.
Seeing Netaji in front, Shrikant Jairanjan Das targeted and opened fire. Neera Arya jumped in the middle after seeing the bullet fired at her hero, she was also a trained detective, so she knew well to run weapons. Seeing Neera coming in between, Shrikant Jairanjan Das got the illusion that since Neera is his wife, she will not come between him and Subhash Chandra Bose. In this presumption, Shrikant again targets Netaji, but before Shrikant could shoot, Neera Arya killed her husband with a dagger kept hidden with him. That dagger was directly stabbed in the stomach of Shrikant.
Netaji was surprised to see all this. Because in those days such dedication was neither seen nor heard in any anecdote. But Neera killed her husband with her own hands to save her hero. Then whatever Neera said to Subhash Chandra Bose is still recorded in golden letters. Neera had said that she will not leave anyone in the way of her country’s freedom and her duty.
This anecdote was very much discussed at that time and people started calling Neera Veerangana. Neera continued to fulfil her work and her duty and in the meantime, her brother also joined the army of revolutionaries. One day in 1945, news came out that Netaji had died in an air crash. This news created panic in the Azad Hind Fauj. Many people got disappointed. But the atmosphere in the country was also starting to become freedom. This thing was happening on every street and every crossroads that the British can now leave India. Meanwhile, the news started coming fast that many soldiers of Azad Hind Fauj surrendered to the British.
The people of Azad Hind Fauj, who surrendered to the British at the behest of political leaders, were tried at the Red Fort in Delhi from 1945 to December 1946 and among those people there was also a Neera Arya. The British government acquitted all the soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj in this case. Thinking that now there is no real commander of this army, so now these people cannot do anything. But one soldier was not acquitted in this case and that was Neera Arya. Country’s first female detective.
Neera Arya was not only accused of espionage and was not only accused of joining the Azad Hind Fauj but also a serious charge of murder of an English police officer. Who was also the husband of Neera Arya by chance, CID Inspector Shrikant Jairanjan Das? Neera Arya was sentenced by the British court to the biggest punishment of that time i.e. Kala Pani
Neera Arya herself has recorded the stories of the time of the punishment of Kala Pani in Andaman and Nicobar in her book. After suffering immense torture from the jailer of Andaman, the independence of the country, when the prisoners serving life imprisonment in Kala Pani were released by the Indian government, then Neera Arya was also one of them.
After her release from jail, Neera Arya lived an anonymous life. It is reported that during the same oblivion life, It is said that Neera Arya used to sell flowers in her last days. During this, whenever somebody came forward to do good to her by recognizing her and giving her government help, Neera Arya turned down every help saying that whatever she did, she did for his country.
What a strange coincidence, the area where Neera Arya used to live in a hut in Hyderabad was demolished by some later governments saying that this raw colony is illegal. It is not until that that time people did not know or recognize Neera Arya Because when many women around came to know about Neera Arya, they used to call her Paidamma while giving her respect. Paidamma is made up of two words Pedda and Amma. Which means the greatest mother, the supreme mother.
However, at the last moment, Paidamma i.e. Neera Arya lived in extreme poverty in Hyderabad and on 26 July 1998, Neera Arya and the country’s first female detective breathed her last at Osmania Hospital in Hyderabad.