Dutta, CR
Dutta, CR Bir Uttam (1927-2020) a valiant Freedom Fighter and Sector Commander during the Liberation War. CR Dutta’s full name is Chittaranjan Dutta. He was born on 1 January 1927 in Shillong, Assam. His family was then staying in Assam due to his father’s job. His father’s name is Upendra Chandra Dutta and mother’s name is Labanya Prava Dutta. His ancestral home is Mirashi village of Chunarughat thana in Habiganj district.
CR Dutta passed the entrance examination from Habiganj Government High School in 1943 and Intermediate and BSc from Daulatpur College, Khulna. He joined the Pakistan Army in 1951 and was commissioned the following year.
CR Dutta came to Habiganj from West Pakistan on leave of absence in January 1971. The Liberation War of Bangladesh began with the indiscriminate massacre of Bengalis by the Pakistani army in the night of 25 March under the ‘Operation Searchlight’ plan and the declaration of independence by Bangabandhu on the first hours of 26 March. In this situation, he joined the war against the Pakistani invaders without going back to his service in Pakistan. At that time, in a private meeting with Colonel Abdur Rab MNA and Manik Chowdhury MNA of Habiganj, Major CR Dutta took the military leadership of Sylhet region and resolved to free Sylhet city from Pakistani invaders. On 27 March, they reached Rashidpur tea garden with 30-35 army personnel, some police, Ansar, Mujahid, students and youth and political workers and set up a base. On 31 March, they reached Srimangal from Rashidpur tea garden, defeated the Pakistani forces and proceeded towards Sylhet city via Moulvibazar. On 4 April, CR Dutta reached Sherpur in Companiganj and Golapganj upazila of Sylhet with his forces. Freedom Fighters fought fierce battles against the Pakistani army in Companiganj, Sylhet Sadar and Shadipur of Balaganj upazila for 3 days. Being defeated in the battle, the invading forces fled towards the city of Sylhet. On 6 April, the Pakistani soldiers left Sylhet city and took refuge in Salutikar Airport and Lakkatura tea garden being unable to withstand the intense attack of the Freedom Fighters. Apart from these two places, the Freedom Fighters were able to establish full control over a wide area of the district including the Sylhet city till 10 April.
It was not possible for the Freedom Fighters to hold Sylhet city for a long time in the face of mounting attack by the Pakistani forces by air and heavy weaponry. At the end of April, CR Dutta along with his forces crossed the border and took refuge in India. When the entire Bangladesh was divided into 11 sectors in July for conducting the Liberation War, Sector No. 4 was formed with an area of about 100 miles across the south-eastern region of Sylhet. Major CR Dutta was appointed Commander of this Sector. The Headquarters of this Sector was at Khoai, Assam. The Mukti Bahini of this sector consisted of 2,000 regular army and 8,000 guerrillas. Internally this sector was divided into 6 sub-sectors. With numerous high hills, and hundreds of tea plantations, this Sector was very suitable for guerrilla operations.
In the months of October-November, the border areas came under the control of the Freedom Fighters through several successful battles between the CR Dutta’s forces and the invading Pakistani forces. On 16 December, Major CR Dutta reached Khadimnagar in Sylhet city with his forces. Sylhet was liberated on 17 December with the surrender of Pakistani forces. Major CR Dutta was awarded with the gallantry title ‘Bir Uttam’ by the Government of Bangladesh for his great contribution in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
After independence, CR Dutta was reinstated in the army. Gradually he was promoted to the rank of Major General. He retired from the army in 1984. While in the army, he served as Brigade Commander, Director General of BDR (now BGB), Headquarters Chief of Logistics, BRTC and Chairman of Muktijodha Kalyan Trust. For the protection of the rights of minority communities of the country, CR Dutta founded the ‘Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council’ along with others. He was the president of this body until his death.
The road from Kataban to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city has been named Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road. Chittaranjan Dutta died on 25 August 2020. He got married to Manisha Roy in 1957. They have three daughters and one son. [Maniruzzaman Shahin]
References For details, see Harun-or-Rashid (ed.), Bangladesh Muktijuddhya Gyankosh [Encyclopedia of Bangladesh War of Liberation], Volume 10, (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2020.
