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September 20 is observed in the Dhekiajuli town in Sonitpur district of Assam as Martyrs’ Day, as it is the same day in which Tileswari Barua, who was shot at the age of 12 by the British, during the Quit India Movement, when she and some freedom fighters tried to unfurl the Tricolour atop a police station.

Tileswari went along with a mrityu vahini — a kind of suicide squad — as it marched towards the police station in Dhekiajuli. Fifteen people were killed in the shooting that day. Tileswari was the eldest of four children of Bhabakanta Barua of Nij-Borgaon village on the outskirts of Dhekiajuli. She is believed to have been influenced by the patriotic songs that Congress volunteers were singing every day.

Tileswari was a little behind Monbor Nath, who headed the local mrityu vahini and was leading the group. When Nath defied orders of the police officer and climbed atop the police station, he was gunned down within a few seconds. Other volunteers followed, one by one. Tileswari was the fourth to be hit by the bullet after Nath, Kumoli Devi and Mohiram Koch.