Balasore, Sept. 10: A number of people gathered to pay their respects to revolutionary Jatindranath Mukherjee, who died after being injured in a fight with the British here 97 years ago.

Rakta Tirtha Yatris, a group from Bengal, along with local people, came together here to remember the courage and sacrifice of the martyr, who was popularly known as Bagha Jatin. These people visited the places associated with the memories of the freedom fighter including Chasakhand, where he fought a battle with British police, a government girls’ school (the then district hospital where he was treated) and the district jail, where he and his compatriots were lodged.

The 30-member Rakta Tirtha Yatri, headed by Sudhir Maitra, 95, attended commemorative functions organised by the district administration on his death anniversary today.

“Jatin was courageous since childhood and he drew inspiration from his mother,” said Rajiv Chattopadhay, secretary of Rakta Tirtha Yatri.

“He is regarded as the first freedom fighter to have fought the British police face-to-face near Chasakhand in Balasore. He could have run away from the battle ground but he fought bravely for the motherland and laid down his life,” he said.

“Bagha Jatin’s sacrifice has left a strong bond between Odisha and Bengal. The present generation should follow the foot prints of the great hero,” said Sudhir Maitra.

Bagha Jatin was in the jungle of Kaptipada in Mayurbhanj district planning an attack on the British police when the cops, headed by Charles A. Teggart, surrounded them. They were encountered by the police at Chasakhand, 10km from Balasore, while waiting for the arrival of a consignment of arms on the Balasore coast for an armed rebellion.

Jatin succumbed to bullet injuries at the district headquarters hospital on September 10, 1915, after he refused to undergo treatment in the hands of British doctors.

Among his aides, Chittapriya Raychaudhary died in the encounter and two others, Manoranjan Sengupta and Birendranath Sengupta, were hanged. Another aide, Jyotish, was sent to Cellular Jail in the Andamans. “Every year, we observe the day in association with Rakta Tirtha Yatris. It is a matter of pride for our district as well as our state,” said Haren Chandra Rana, secretary of Bagha Jatin Development Committee.

“We will observe the day in a grand way in the centenary year 2014-15. We have already chalked out some plans and proposals,” he said.