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{{short description|Indian Dalit anthropologist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1965
| birth_place = Gohaldihi, [[Paschim Medinipur district]], [[West Bengal]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|8|16|1965|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[Kharagpur]], [[Paschim Medinipur district]], [[West Bengal]]
| death_cause = [[Suicide]]
| other_names =
|education = [[Vidyasagar University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| spouse ={{marriage|Manmatha Savar|1990}}
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = [[Social work]]
| notable_works =
}}

'''Chuni Kotal''' was an [[Adivasi]] social worker and the first woman graduate from the [[Lodha people|Lodha community]], a [[Particularly vulnerable tribal group]] (PVTG) in India. Her death in 1992 drew national attention to allegations of systemic discrimination faced by tribal communities in educational institutions.

==Personal life==
Born in 1965, in village Gohaldihi, in [[Paschim Medinipur district]], [[West Bengal]], into a poor Lodha family with 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

Kotal married Manmatha Savar in 1990 through a court marriage. They had known each other since 1981. Savar, a high school graduate, was employed at the railway workshop in [[Kharagpur]].<ref name=change/><ref name=epw1991/>

==Education and career==
Kotal got her first job as a Lodha [[Social worker]] after her junior college in 1983 at Jhargram ITDP office, surveying local villages.

In 1985, she graduated in anthropology from [[Vidyasagar University]], becoming the first woman from the Lodha community to do so—a group that had been historically classified as a [[Denotified tribes of India|criminal tribe]] under British colonial rule.<ref>''Economic and Political Weekly'', she was the first lodha graduate women. Published by Sameeksha Trust., 1985. ''Page 1467''</ref><ref>''Dust on the Road: The Activist Writings of Mahasweta Devi'', by Mahasveta Devi, Maitreya Ghatak. Published by Seagull Books, 1997. {{ISBN|81-7046-143-X}}. ''The Story of Chuni Kotal - Page 136''.</ref> Two years after graduation, she was appointed as a Hostel superintendent at 'Rani Shiromoni [[SC and ST]] Girls' Hostel' at [[Medinipur]], here again she had to face the social stigma attached with her tribe.<ref name=change/>

During her Masters course ([[MSc]]) at the [[Vidyasagar University]], she was allegedly discriminated by university administrators, who refused to give her the requisite pass grades, despite her having fulfilled the criteria. The institution authority opined that a low-born person coming from a "criminal tribe", a [[Denotified tribes of India|Denotified tribe of India]], did not have the social privilege and pre-ordained destiny to study "higher discourse" like the social sciences.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yib9wsfFMdQC&dq=Chuni+Kotal&pg=PA18 Introduction] ''Contested Belonging: An Indigenous People's Struggle for Forest and Identity in Sub-Himalayan Bengal'', by B. G. Karlsson, Published by Routledge, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7007-1179-1}}. ''Page 18-19''.</ref> In 1991, after losing two years at the course, she complained, and a high level enquiry commission was set up by the state Education minister to no avail, once the fact that she belonged to a former criminal tribe came to light.<ref name=change/>

==Death==
On 14 August 1992, frustrated by years casteist and racist harassment at Medinipur, she left Medinipur and went to meet her husband, Manmatha Savar, who had been working at Railway workshop at [[Kharagpur]], where she committed suicide on 16 August 1992, at the age of 27.<ref name=change>''The Changing Status of Women in West Bengal, 1970-2000: The Challenge Ahead'', by Jasodhara Bagchi, Sarmistha Dutta Gupta. Published by SAGE, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7619-3242-9}}. ''Tribal Women - Page 141''.</ref><ref name=epw1991>''Economic and Political Weekly'', Published by Sameeksha Trust., 29 August 1992. Page 1836.</ref>

Her death became the focal point of immense political, human rights and social controversy in the media in West Bengal, and eastern India,<ref>''Human Rights: Theory and Practice'', by Debi Chatterjee, Sucheta Ghosh, Sumita Sen, [[Jadavpur University]] Dept. of International Relations. Published by South Asian Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|81-7003-247-4}}. ''Page 128''.</ref><ref>''Environment and Women Development: Lessons from Third World'', by G. K. Ghosh. Published by Ashish Publishing House, 1995. {{ISBN|81-7024-674-1}}. ''Page 270''.</ref><ref>[http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/sagar/fall.1994/dec.94.fn.html "Chuni Kotaler Attohota" (The Suicide of Chuni Kotal)] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/19980201081830/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/sagar/fall.1994/dec.94.fn.html |date=1 February 1998 }} [[Anandabazar Patrika]], 20 August 1992."Debashish Bhottacharjo, "Amader Progotir Mukhosh Khule Dilen Chuni Kotal, Tanr Jibon Diye" (By Losing Her Life, Chuni Kotal Has Taken Away Our Progressive Mask)"</ref> where the discourse is traditionally [[Brahmin]]-[[Bania (caste)|Baniya]] dominated.

Upon her death, Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha, [[Kolkata]], organized a mass movement through different seminars and street corners, street play protesting against university teachers, on the street of Kolkata.<ref>[http://www.dalitmirror.com/topic1.html Why Dalits in West Bengal are on Protest] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827150943/http://www.dalitmirror.com/topic1.html |date=27 August 2008 }} ''dalitmirror''.</ref>

==Legacy==
Since 1993, it organizes the Annual ''Chuni Kotal Memorial Lecture'' in [[Kolkata]] every year.<ref>[https://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/2008/01/home-about-us-contact-us-community.html 13th Chuni Kotal Memorial Lecture]</ref> Later a motivational video film has been produced on her life story by Department of Education, [[Govt. of India]]<ref>[http://education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/74/8I740902.htm Media and Communication Supports] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410155941/http://education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/74/8I740902.htm |date=10 April 2009 }} Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, '' [[Govt. of India]] ''.</ref>

Her story was highlighted by noted writer-activist [[Mahasweta Devi]] in her book in Bengali, ''Byadhkhanda'' in (1994), ( ''The Book of the Hunter'' (2002))<ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20081201143111/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/07/07/stories/2002070700220500.htm Forgotten tales]}} [[The Hindu]], 7 July 2002.</ref>

Har Na Mana Har (2021) is a Bengali novel has been written by Subhabrata Basu based on her tragic life

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20081201143111/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/07/07/stories/2002070700220500.htm Forgotten Tales]}} Review of Mahasweta Devi's ''The Book of the Hunter'' by Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta in ''[[The Hindu]]''. Retrieved 23 March 2007.

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotal, Chuni}}
[[Category:People from Paschim Medinipur district]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian anthropologists]]
[[Category:Indian anti-caste leaders]]
[[Category:Victims of human rights abuses]]
[[Category:Suicides in India]]
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Discrimination in India]]
[[Category:Vidyasagar University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Indian women anthropologists]]
[[Category:Dalit women]]
[[Category:Dalit people]]
[[Category:Indian women social scientists]]
[[Category:Scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Adivasi activists]]
[[Category:Adivasi women]]
[[Category:Educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Female suicides]]

Chuni Kotal - Revision history

Red apple learning at 05:12, 11 January 2026