Shri Dutt Badoni, popularly known as Shri Dev Suman was a prominent freedom fighter and litterateur, who hailed from the Tehri Princely State, centered on the present-day Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttarakhand.
Shri Dev Suman was only 14 when he was arrested and imprisoned in 1930 for participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Later he organized multiple movements for civil rights and independence. He also served as the writer of many underground publications and edited Suman Saurabh. Suman admired Gandhiji and propagated his ideologies of non-violent struggle, and swadeshi in Tehri. Sundarlal Bahuguna, a comrade of his remembers that Suman was the one who introduced the Tehri population to Gandhi, the Charkha, and Nationalism. Suman also introduced the people of the Tehri Riyasat to revolutionary literature and nationalist poetry such as Vijayi Vishwa Tiranga Pyara, and Saare Jahan Se Accha. He was also an active participant in the Quit India Movement, called by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942. He was arrested at Champa on 27 December 1943. Suman was subjected to extraordinarily harsh treatment at the hands of the jail authorities and launched a hunger strike to protest against this ill-treatment. He was martyred over the course of this strike in 1944. However, his message of rebellion against injustice and exploitation continued to inspire the people of the Riyasat.
Shri Dev Suman’s martyrdom at the young age of 29, inspired the youth to join the freedom struggle.
Source: Indian Culture Portal