Peasant movement leader Ila Mitra died on this day.
She was 76.
Ila, who was born in Kolkata, was also a champion athlete. She had been considered for the 1940 Olympics, which was cancelled because of the First World War.
She was married to Ramendranath Mitra, who belonged to a zamindar family of Ramchandrapurhat in Nawabganj district (now in Bangladesh) and worked with the Communist Party of India.
With her husband, Ila worked closely with farmers, including members of the Santhal community, mobilising them to pay one-third of their harvest to the landlords. Their struggle was part of the Tebhaga movement of undivided Bengal, a major political movement that bought together landless labourers, farmers and tribal communities.
In January 1950, Ila was arrested.
In police custody she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted and
subjected to inhuman torture. In jail later she continued to receive barbaric torture.
She was tried for treason and sentenced to life.
After she became very ill, the Pakistan government paroled her in 1954 and sent her to Kolkata. She stayed on in the city.
She took part in the food movement and was elected MLA in West Bengal Assembly, but did not contest after the Left Front came to power. She apparently used to say she survived her torture because of her training as an athlete.
