SunstarTV Bureau: Odisha will never forget the sacrifice of 12 year old boy Odisha’s Baji Rout who lost his life during India’s freedom movement. The boy was born at Nilakanthapur village in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district in 1926.
British police in the midnight of October 10, 1938 attacked Bhuban village in the district, arrested some persons and leaders without any reason and took them to Bhuban police station. Several villagers gheraoed the police station and demanded release of the arrested persons.
The cops did not listen to the demand of the agitators and fired at them, during which Raghu Naik and Quri Naik were shot dead and many others were injured.
Apprehending their lives at risk, the policemen wanted to go to Dhenkanal through Nilakanthapur Ghat as it was the shortest way to Dhenkanal.
On October 11 night, the cops reached Nilakanthapur Ghat of Brahmani river while it was raining. Baji Rout, a member of the children’s wing of the Prajamandal Andolan , was in charge of a country boat at the ghat. He was asked by senior activists to keep a vigil on the ghat to ensure that policemen won’t be able to ferry through the river.
The Britishers ordered him to carry them across the river on his boat, to which he denied fearlessly. The police force fired at Baji Rout along with two other boatmen Laxman Mallik and Fagu Sahoo, killing them on the spot.
