Khudiram Bose death anniversary: Remembering the 18-year-old who went to the gallows smiling

Tributes have poured in for Khudiram Bose, the legendary freedom fighter, on the occasion of his death anniversary.

Bose was executed on August 11, 1908 after being held guilty for the famous Muzaffarpur conspiracy where he, along with fellow freedom fighter Prafulla Chaki, made an attempt on the life of Douglas Kingsford, a British judge in colonial India.

He was born on December 3, 1889 in West Bengal's Medinipur (then Midnapore) district. He became a volunteer in the freedom struggle when he was 15.


Bose was part of the famed Anushilan Samiti in what was then Calcutta. He was just over 18 when he was hanged, which makes him one of the youngest freedom fighters who made the supreme sacrifice.

The conspiracy, however, was not successful, with the target escaping death and the bombs claiming two unintended victims. Bose was caught, put on trial, and later handed a death sentence. Bose's co-revolutionary, Chaki, killed himself before the police could catch up with him.

Bose was put to death at the Muzaffarpur jail. Newspaper reports from those times say he went to the gallows with a smile. The jail later came to be named after him.