{{short description|Bengali revolutionary (1913-1996)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Use Indian English|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Shanti Gopal Sen | image = File:Statue of Shanti Gopal Sen.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth-date| 25 December 1913}} | birth_place = English Bazar, Malda, Bengal Presidency, British India | death_date = {{death-date and age|16 September 1996| 25 December 1913}} | death_place = English Bazar, Malda, India | known = | occupation = Revolutionary | organization = Bengal Volunteers | movement = Indian Freedom Movement | known for = | citizenship = | footnotes = }}
''' Shanti Gopal Sen ''' ( 25 December 1913 – 16 September 1996 ) was an Indian revolutionary and member of the Bengal Volunteers who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.literacyparadise.com/2020/08/List-of-Bengali-Freedom-Fighters-in-Cellular-Jail.html | title=আন্দামান সেলুলার জেলের ৩৯০ জন বাঙালি স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামীর তালিকা }}</ref> As he was a sharp shooter the British named him as Shanti Gopal Crackshoot Sen.
== Early life and education == Santi Gopal Sen was born in Malda in the year 1913. After passing the matriculation examination from Malda Zilla School<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://mzsalumni.org.in/about|title= Malda Zilla School Allumni Association |website= mzsalumni.org.in }}</ref> he went to Midnapur with his father who was transferred from Malda to Midnapur and later he admitted to Midnapur College for further studies. Later he joined the Bengal Volunteers, a revolutionary organisation of British India.<ref name=Sengupta-Basu>{{Cite book|title=Sansad Bangali Charitavidhan (Bengali)|last1=Sengupta |first1=Subodhchandra |last2=Basu |first2=Anjali |publisher=Sahitya Sansad|year=2002|isbn=81-85626-65-0|volume=I|location=Kolkata|page=297}}</ref> thumb|Shanti Gopal Sen's name in Andaman Cellular Jail list, Port Blair 2009
== Revolutionary activities == After the murders of two previous District Magistrates James Peddy and Robert Douglas, no British officer was ready to take charge of Midnapore district. Former soldier Bernard E. J. Burge was then posted to Midnapore district.<ref name=Sengupta-Basu/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sabyasachi |first1=Biplabi |title=Historic Day: আজ অত্যাচারী ব্রিটিশ জেলাশাসক বার্জ হত্যার সেই ঐতিহাসিক দিন |url=https://biplabisabyasachi.com/that-was-the-historic-day-of-the-assassination-of-the-oppressive-british-district-magistrate-burge/ |website=Biplabi Sabyasachi |access-date=2 March 2024 |date=2 September 2021}}</ref> Members of the Bengal Volunteers: Ramkrishna Roy, Brajakishore Chakraborty, Prabhanshu Sekhar Pal, Kamakhya Charan Ghosh, Sonatan Roy, Nanda Dulal Singh, Sukumar Sengupta, Bijoy Krishna Ghose, Purnananda Sanyal, Manindra Nath Choudhury, Saroj Ranjan Das Kanungo, Santi Gopal Sen, Sailesh Chandra Ghose, Anath Bondhu Panja and Mrigendra Dutta decided to assassinate him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hssXP1hBYscC&q=Bhattacharya+killed+magistrate+Douglas&pg=PA254|title=History of the Freedom Movement in India (1857–1947)|last=S. N. Sen|year=1997|publisher=New Age International |isbn=9788122410495|access-date=11 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=বেঙ্গল ভলান্টিয়ার |last= Madhumanti Sengupta |publisher= Ananda Publishers |date= 1 January 2016 |isbn=978-9389876772|location= Kolkata |pages=}}</ref> Roy, Chakraborty, Nirmal Jibon Ghosh and Dutta planned to shoot Burge dead while he was playing in a football match between Midnapore Mohammedan sporting Club (a fan club of Mohammedan SC (Kolkata)) and Midnapore Town Club(Bradley-Birt Challenge Cup Corners Shield Competition.) at the police grounds of Midnapore.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Meghdeep |last=Bhattacharyya |date=11 July 2025 |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/terrorist-tag-on-freedom-fighters-mistake-in-question-paper-was-unintentional-vidyasagar-university-vc-prnt/cid/2112554 | title='Terrorist' tag on freedom fighters, mistake in question paper was unintentional: Vidyasagar University VC |website=telegraphindia.com |access-date=September 12, 2025}}</ref> On 2nd September 1933 during the half time of the football match on the police parade ground, Burge was shot and killed by Panja and Dutta. Panja was killed instantly by one of Burges' bodyguards. Dutta was also shot and died in hospital on the next day.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Who's Who of Indian Martyrs|first=P. N. | last=Chopra|volume=1|year=1969|publisher=Ministry of Education and Youth Services, Government of India |isbn=9788123021805}}</ref> Anath Bondhu Panja and Mrigendra Dutta were acquitted of the murder of Magistrate Burge.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rammanohar Lohia|last=Volume 9|year=1990|isbn=9788171002511}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wbcorrectionalservices.gov.in/history_heritage03.html|title=Midnapore Central Correctional Home|website=wbcorrectionalservices.gov.in|access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Chronological Dictionary of India's Independence|last=Kali Charan Ghosh|publisher=Sahitya Sansad|year=2012|isbn=978-81-86806-20-3|location=Kolkata|pages=87}}</ref><ref name="midnapore-volunteers">{{cite web |title=Bengal Volunteers of Midnapore |url=https://www.midnapore.in/bv.html |website=www.midnapore.in |access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1Pclr-6w94C&q=Nirmal+Jiban+Ghosh&pg=PA44|title=Rammanohar Lohia|last=Volume 9|year=1990|publisher=Deep & Deep Publications |isbn=9788171002511|access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y74pDwAAQBAJ&q=Bhattacharya+killed+magistrate+Douglas&pg=PA151|title=Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India|last=Durba Ghosh|date=20 July 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107186668|access-date=11 March 2018}}</ref> After the shootout he took a cycle and fled to the Salbani Jungle. There he boarded train from the railway station of Godapiasal. A revolutionary named Binod Sen aks Binod Bihari Sen from village Godapiasal helps him for this matter. After one year he was arrested from Kolkata. British Government made a separate trial for him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/600128/|title= Emperor vs Nirmal Jiban Ghose And Ors. on 30 August, 1934|access-date=28 October 2021}}</ref> The special tribunal sentenced him and six others to life imprisonment and moved him to the Andaman Islands. He release from prison in 1946,
== Later life == After the Independence of India, Sen won several elections, which included the English Bazar seat of West Bengal Assembly in 1957, 1962, and 1967. Each time he won the Assembly poll as an Indian National Congress candidate. For the rest of his life Sen worked as a social worker.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aajbangla.in/English-Bazar-Assembly-constituency--in-Malda-district | title=ইংরেজ বাজার বিধানসভা কেন্দ্রঃ মালদা জেলার একটি বিধানসভা কেন্দ্র ইংরেজ বাজার - Aaj Bangla Bengali News | work=Aaj Bangla | date=27 April 2021 | author1=Aajbangla | access-date=12 July 2022 | archive-date=18 December 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218051325/https://www.aajbangla.in/English-Bazar-Assembly-constituency--in-Malda-district | url-status=dead }}</ref> He was honoured with a Tamrapatra by the Indian Government in 1972. He donated in various way for the establishment of Malda Women's College and Malda Girls School (Shanti Sen Girls School). A road named Shanti Sen Sarani was named after him.Sen died on 16 September 1996.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
==References== {{reflist}} {{Indian Revolutionary Movement}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Shanti Gopal}} Category:1913 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Revolutionary movement for Indian independence Category:Indian nationalism Category:Indian people convicted of murder Category:20th-century Indian murderers Category:People from Malda district Category:Revolutionaries from West Bengal Category:Bengali politicians Category:West Bengal MLAs 1957–1962 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1962–1967 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969 Category:Indian independence activists from Bengal Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal