An unsung hero of yore

I met Pran Nath Puri when I was in DAV College, Chandigarh, in the late sixties, through his son Parminder who was my class fellow, and later a good friend. As friends we would often visit each other’s homes and that’s how I met this devout, fearless freedom fighter. I found him to be a simple, khadi-wearing, self-effacing and unassuming person, not easily opening up about his daring deeds during the freedom struggle.

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Pran Nath hailed from Kunjah village in Gujrat district of Pakistan. His father, Dr Hari Chand, was well known in the area. Being bright in studies, Pran Nath joined DAV College, Lahore, and was staying in the college hostel. The revolutionary movement led by the iconic Bhagat Singh was at its peak, and he, too, like so many other young men, was swept off his feet. He became a regular subscriber to the published revolutionary literature. The hostel was often frequented by sympathisers of top firebrand leaders and his room was occasionally used for secret meetings.

One day, a contact of the famed revolutionary Sukhdev approached Pran Nath and borrowed his cycle, confiding that it was needed for a cause. Soon after, Saunders was shot dead and the cycle was used to escape by the revolutionaries. The active members and sympathisers went underground. The police tortured all and sundry, anyone even remotely suspected to be connected with the movement. The methods used on the young boys were spine- chilling. The needle of suspicion pointed at Pran Nath, too.

It so happened that the police officer sent to search his house in the village had a relative living there. In the evening, he accidentally disclosed the purpose of his visit. The relations panicked, as any family found out to be acting against the interests of revolutionaries was socially ostracised, such being the patriotic fervour at that time. They, therefore, implored him to go back. The officer insisted on doing his duty but relented enough to let Pran Nath’s family be forewarned, while he waited for the early morning light to break. Pran Nath’s mother lit a small fire lest curious neighbours smelt a rat and thus was busy the whole night burning revolutionary literature as well as his college books, as she couldn’t distinguish between the two. The raid was duly conducted and Pran Nath had a providential escape. While he finished his graduation, he was attracted towards the Gandhian way of protests, and served and lived at Sabarmati Ashram for two years, busy organising the camps of Satyagrahis. He fervently participated in the Quit India movement and suffered three-year imprisonment.

Under parental pressure, he finally married at the age of 37, considered quite late then. After Independence, he worked in Delhi at a private motor car agency, before finally getting a government job in the labour department. He breathed his last in 1981, as an unsung, anonymous hero!