GULAB KAUR & her husband (Ghadr Party)
Bibi Gulab Kaur (died 1941) was born at village Dalelsinghvala, about 6 km from Bhikhi (in the present district of Mansa). She was married to Jeewan Singh son of Vazir Singh of village Daulasinghvala. Her husband had gone to Far East countries to earn his livelihood. She accompanied her husband to Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines etc. In the year 1914, when the Punjabi and Indian immigrants launched Ghadr movement, her husband made active participation in it. She too joined her husband in the activities of the Ghadr Party.
When the Ghadr leaders decided to return to the Punjab to launch an armed struggle against the British for the freedom of their homeland, both of them too left Philippines to return to their homeland. They reached Calcutta on 19 October 1914. At that time ‘Ingress Into India Act’ had come into force and all the immigrant Punjabis entering India were taken into custody; but, being a couple, she and her husband, escaped arrest.
In the Punjab, Jeewan Singh, the husband of Gulab Kaur worked as one of the most active members of the Ghadr Party. He was involved in Firozshah Murder Case (police encounter at Misriwala village). Soon, he was arrested and was sentenced to death. He was hanged in Montgomery Jail on 25 March 1915.
Even after the martyrdom of her husband, she continued participating in the activates of the Ghadr Party. She used to work under several names; the intelligence mentions two of her assumed names: Basant Kaur and Mussamat Kirpo.
Being a woman, she could not come under surveillance of the Police and the Intelligence Department. Finally, in 1916, she was arrested from the residence of Amar Singh (who himself had been a Ghadr activist) of village Kotla Naudh Singh (about 9 km from Hoshiarpur). She was tried and sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment. She was released in 1921. After her release, she stayed ay Kotla Naudh Singh, with Amar Singh, whom she considered like her real brother. Even after her release she remained socially active. She used to teach the illiterate women folk of the village and also serve in the Gurdwara.
Several writers have done injustice to her and her husband. They mention Bhagwan Singh as the name of her husband and say that he had refused to return to the Punjab to participate in Ghadr activities; and, she had abandoned her husband and had come to the Punjab to serve the Ghadr Party. This is grave insult to her martyr husband and injustice to history.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)