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Hemu Kalani: Sindh’s Teenage Martyr

Hemu Kalani was 19 when the British offered him a way out: name your accomplices, and live. He refused, and walked to the gallows smiling, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in his hands.

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Modern History · ModHist0152

Hemu Kalani

Sindh’s teenage martyr, hanged at 19 for refusing to inform

23 Mar 1923

Born Hemandas Kalani, in Sukkur, Sindh.

1942

Joins Gandhi’s Quit India Movement.

22 Oct 1942

Attempts to derail a British military train near Sukkur; is captured.

21 Jan 1943

Executed by hanging in Sukkur, aged 19.

Mercy, on One Condition

Sindhi residents petitioned the Viceroy for clemency. The British agreed, on one condition: Kalani had to name his co-conspirators. He refused, twice, and was hanged.

📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Must Know
3Good to Know
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know

Timeline

23 March 1923: Hemu Kalani is born Hemandas Kalani, in Sukkur, Sindh.
1942: He joins Gandhi’s Quit India Movement. British authorities deploy extra battalions to suppress the movement in Sindh.
22 October 1942: He and his colleagues try to derail a British military train near Sukkur, removing fishplates from the track. British forces catch them before they finish, and he is captured.
Late 1942: He is tortured and tried. He refuses to name his co-conspirators, even when a mercy petition offers clemency in exchange.
21 January 1943: He is hanged in Sukkur, aged 19, two months before his 20th birthday.

Must Know

Hemu Kalani, born Hemandas Kalani on 23 March 1923, in Sukkur, Sindh, was executed on 21 January 1943, aged 19.
He joined Gandhi’s Quit India Movement in 1942.
On 22 October 1942, he attempted to derail a British military train near Sukkur, by removing fishplates from the railway track.
He was captured, tortured, and tried. He refused to name his co-conspirators, even when a mercy petition offered clemency in exchange.
He was executed by hanging, one of the youngest martyrs of India’s freedom struggle.

Good to Know

He was born on 23 March, the same calendar date on which Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru had been executed in 1931.
As a youth, he campaigned for the Swadeshi movement, promoting Indian-made goods over British imports.
He and his colleagues lacked proper tools for the sabotage attempt. They improvised, using rope to loosen the track fixtures.
He reportedly walked to the gallows smiling, carrying a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.
India Post issued a commemorative stamp in his honour in 1983. A statue of him also stands in the Parliament complex, New Delhi.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

Sindhi residents petitioned the Viceroy for mercy. The British agreed, on one condition: he had to name his accomplices. He refused, and was hanged.
Several Indian cities, including Nagpur, Agra, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Raipur, have named roads, parks, or institutions after him.
In his native Sukkur, now in Pakistan, a park once named for him was later renamed. He remains little remembered there today.
His story reflects Sindh’s own significant, if less widely known, participation in the Quit India Movement. The region drew a heavy British military response.
He died two months short of his 20th birthday, one of the freedom struggle’s youngest executed martyrs.

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