Veteran freedom fighter Captain Lakshmi Sehgal dies aged 97

Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, who was part of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, died in Kanpur today after a brief illness. Sehgal (97) passed away at a private hospital at 11.20 am, her daughter and noted leader of the Communist Party of Indian (Marxist), Subhashini Ali said.

Sehgal, who had been ill for some time, was admitted to the hospital on 19 July after suffering a heart attack at her residence in Civil Lines area in the city. She had been on life support system since then.

Sehgal actively participated in the independence movement and was commander of the 'Rani of Jhansi Regiment' of the Indian National Army (INA) formed by Bose. A doctor by profession, she had been working as a medical practitioner and a social worker and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1998.

Sehgal was born as Lakshmi Swaminathan to noted lawyer Dr S Swaminathan and social worker Ammu Swaminathan in Chennai on 24 October, 1914, and obtained her MBBS degree from the Madras Medical College in 1938.

In 1940, she went to Singapore for further studies and returned to India in 1943 to join the INA. She married colonel Prem Kumar Sehgal in 1947 and since then had been residing in Kanpur.

Expressing grief over Sehgal's' demise, senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said Sehgal was a ''highly politically motivated human being who fought injustice wherever she saw it''.