Virender Sehwag’s moving post on 12-year-old shot dead by British

NEW DELHI Nov 15: Former cricketer Virender Sehwag on Thursday shared the photo of a 12-year-old boy, one of the youngest freedom fighters of India, to mark Children’s Day. Baji Rout was shot dead by British soldiers after he refused to ferry them across a river.

“At the age of 12 ,this young boy was on guard of a country boat and was ordered by the British troop to ferry them across river Brahamani,” Virender Sehwag wrote on Instagram, describing the details of Baji Rout’s killing in 1938.

“Baji who had already heard details of the brutality of the troops which had killed innocent people in the village understood if the British troops were to be obstructed ,then they needed to be stopped from going across to the other bank. He therefore refused to ferry them across,” the former cricketer wrote.

The child was shot hit on his head by a solider with his gun, resulting in a fractured skull. Virender Sehwag describes: “A soldier pierced his bayonet into the soft skull of Baji. Another British soldier started firing ruthlessly.”