India’s women freedom fighters: The forgotten 5

Matangini Hazra also known as Gandhi Buri participated in the Quit India and Non-Cooperation Movements. Even after being shot thrice during a procession, she continued to lead with the Indian flag. Reports suggest that she kept shouting "Vande Mataram” during the procession. In 1977 for the first time, a statue of a woman was put up in Kolkata and that was Hazra’s.

Lakshmi Sahgal, a doctor by profession was working with wounded prisoners of war in Singapore when she heard that Subash Chandra Bose wanted to draft women in the Indian National Army (INA). In 1943, she helped set up a women's regiment and earned the title of Captain Lakshmi. For her involvement with INA, she was arrested by colonial forces in 1945.

Mostly remembered for hoisting the Indian national flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement in 1942, Aruna Asaf Ali was an activist, educator, and publisher. She is also known as ‘The Grand Old Lady’ of the Independence Movement. After getting married to Congress leader Asaf Ali, she participated in the Salt Satyagraha and was later held prisoner in Tihar jail. In 1958 she became Delhi's first Mayor.

In 1824, at the age of 33, Kittur Chennamma led an armed resistance against the British forces. The resistance ended in her giving up her life for the nation in 1829.

Sucheta Kripalani was first drawn towards India's freedom struggle when she heard her father and his friends talk about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. This led her sister and her to join the independence movement and Sucheta was at the forefront of the Quit India Movement. She later joined the Indian National Congress and became the first woman CM of an Indian state (UP).