Subhadra Khosla, who along with several other women raised the flag inside the Lahore women’s jail in defiance of the British Raj, passed away on April 30, 2026. Born in Kot Mohammad Khan on September 30, 1928, to Lala Achint Ram and Satyavati – both of whom were ardent freedom fighters, Subhadra grew up with nationalist songs, processions, rebellion and meetings against the Raj.Her father, Achint Ram, left his studies and joined the Servants of People Society, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. He married Satyavati who as a student of Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Jalandhar – a hotbed of the freedom struggle – was also imbued with the values of the freedom struggle. When Achint Ram met Satyavati, he cautioned her that a life devoted to patriotism and service is full of hardship, but she was willing, recounted Subhadra Khosla in an oral testimony recorded on March 16, 1998. This was the first of our several meetings that continued till she passed away recently.Subhadra was a living history; she was an amazing raconteur and one could sit across her for hours recording stories on how her father set fire and threw into the dustbin, her woolen sweater and a fine muslin veil, as they were not swadeshi. She sang soulfully the songs that she and the other women sang in prison. However, I was spell-bound indeed rivetted by the account of when the women raised the flag inside the jail.She recounted that earlier ‘on August 9, 1942 there was a meeting in the committee room at Lajpat Bhavan. My father was getting ready. At that time everything was very calm. People dressed in white kurta-pajamas and caps were arriving one by one, at Lajpat Bhavan where we lived …. The police had surrounded the place. That was where the offices of the Servants of the People Society were … everyone who entered was immediately arrested. If someone had money or anything on them, the police would confiscate it. They sealed all the offices of Lajpat Bhavan… when my father was being arrested, he called out, ‘Shrimati, give me some food’, but she was too unwell to get up.’Freedom fighter Subhadra Khosla with Sagari Chhabra. Photo: Sagari ChhabraSubhadra recounts that she was 13-year-old and gave her father some roti to eat before he was taken to jail.She herself was arrested later, ‘I was arrested on August 26, 1942, on the day of rakshabandhan… that evening around 4 pm, Mata Rameshwari Nehru, Comrade (Savitri ) Ram Kishen, Lakshmi Devi Rekha and Mrs Hemraj, all of them were supposed to go to jail… it started raining heavily … I was standing at the Khadi Ashram, right next to my uncle’s Bhalla Shoe shop. Suddenly a procession began and I joined in shouting slogans… The police arrested me, my sister and my mother together. They also arrested Krishan bhai who was with us.’Her sister Nirmal Kant was only 5-year-old and she was 13-year-old. ‘After that we raised slogans with all our energy. We thought, this is the moment – if not now, when?’On being asked if she wanted to be arrested, she replied, ‘We felt that there was no other way to attain freedom, without going to jail …this belief had been instilled in us by our parents and we never even cried, not even when our father was in jail for three years at a time. A life of sacrifice was our ideal.’‘We were arrested on August 26. After that the case went on for two months. The sentence was for three years under three charges … and the judge Izzat Rai … sent us to jail. We were very happy, thinking, “Good, this great. Now freedom feels very close,” because in our dreams, we saw true independence, our purpose was to free the country … whether sitting or standing we used to sing,‘Azad Karenge Hind Tujhe, Azad;Kissi Ke Kehne Mein Na Aayenge;Kuchh Samjhenge, Kuchh Samjhayenge;Aapas Mein Milke Rehenge, Irshaad.’‘The echo and that spirit was present at every step of our lives…. they did everything to torture us, served the worst food possible, like vegetables with worms … but we knew how to stay happy.’She went on recounting with happiness writ large on her face, ‘I was sentenced to 3 years but since the sentences were to run concurrently and because the trial itself went on … I ended up serving 1 year and 2 months in jail…every day school girls would gather outside the jail. They wouldn’t give their real names, since many of the parents were government servants or police officers. When asked their names, they would say, “Rebel Number 1”, “Rebel Number 2” and “Rebel Number 3”.’According to prison rules, children could not be imprisoned, but Subhadra was jailed along with her little sister Nirmala. Upon seeing this, Vijay Chauhan who was a year younger than Subhadra and the daughter of the freedom fighter, Sita Devi Chauhan, started mobilising girls outside the jail.Every time they had a date at the court she was there ‘creating a furore and she went to every school, college and public space mobilising women’.Subhadra recounted the ‘joy of jail life’ all the women would gather around the gallows daily at 5pm and sing, ‘Phansi de takhte pe chadh ke, geet watan de gavange’ – we will stand on the platform of the gallows and sing songs of our homeland.Subhadra recounted how they would stack chairpai upon chairpai and call out to the Borstal jail (barracks) and Central jail (barracks) about what was to happen; ‘a revolution in jail’.They made the tricolour by tearing their own clothes and stitching a flag. They placed charpai upon charpai and Memobai who was lithe and nimble climbed up and raised the flag.Former President Pratibha Devisingh Patil with freedom fighter Subhadra Khosla (right) and her mother Satyavati, who was also a freedom fighter. Photo: Press Information BureauThis daring feat was substantiated by many of the surviving women freedom fighters one was able to trace then. These included: Savtri Ramkishen, wife of Comrade Ram Kishen who later became the chief minister of Punjab. Savitri Ram Kishen informed us that she was ‘six months pregnant when she courted arrest’. We also met Sarla Sharma in Chandigarh. Others who were present in this daring act were Pushpa Gujral, Freda Houston Bedi – an Englishwoman married to Pyarelal Bedi and yet another Satyavati ji from Delhi. However, one was unable to record their testimonies as they had already departed.Her account brought out an entire era of ahimsa and satyagraha, where a people were united to sacrifice to obtain freedom. Her contribution along with the other women was invaluable and the act of raising the flag inside the jail remained unrecorded and undocumented till we met her in 1998. This sparked off a lifelong relationship and the idea of a freedom fighters’ archive with a special focus on women.Her death is the end of an era where the purpose of life was getting freedom for the country and not to pursue the good life. A time when the people actually believed and lived by Gandhian values. We have sadly entered an era where there is now a cynical deployment of Gandhi and his name. We are also faced by the dangerous virus of communalism, pitting man against man. Will we be able to revive the legacy of Bapu and the ideas of simplicity, swadeshi and providing enough for every one’s need but not greed, is the question.Farewell Subhadra ji, your voice and amazing courage lives on as an inspiration to us.Sagari Chhabra is an award-winning author & filmmaker and director of the Hamaara Itihaas Archives of Freedom Fighters.