39/2022-2023
As a part of the ongoing nationwide Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration, Lunglei District honoured late Freedom Fighter and ‘Tamrapatra’ awardee Pu Darthawma at his residence in Chanmari locality yesterday.

Lunglei DC Pu Kulothugan A handed over a ‘Certificate of Honour’ to his family, and stated that Lunglei District is immensely proud of Pu Darthawma’s noble legacy, and his name is forever etched in the history books.

Born in 1920 at Pukpui village in Lunglei District, Pu Darthawma had served in the Medical Corps of Indian Army prior to becoming a freedom fighter. During World War II, he was sent to Penang Island in Malaysia where he had fought the invading Japanese soldiers but only to be caught and taken to Singapore as a prisoner of war.

He had come face to face with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose when the latter once visited the prison. Following his release, he had joined the Azad Hind Fauj and fought the British Army in Myanmar along with fellow rebels and Japanese soldiers. However, they surrendered in the aftermath of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The British convicted Pu Darthawma for waging a war against them and put him behind bars. He was released two years later in 1945 after he had served jail terms in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) and Lucknow. He was released from Lucknow Jail on January 15, 1945 following the intervention of Mahatma Gandhi & Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Indian government awarded him the 'Tamrapatra Award' in 1972 for his role in the struggle for Indian independence. He passed away on July 21, 2019 at his residence in Chanmari, Lunglei, at the age of 99.

The Ministry of Communication, Department of Posts, Government of India had released a "Special Cover on Darthawma Renthlei" in October last year to honour the late freedom fighter as a part of the ongoing nationwide Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration.