Boota Singh
| Boota Singh | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Boota Singh Jalandhar district, Punjab, British India |
| Died | February 19, 1957 Shahdara, Pakistan |
| Other names |
Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh (lit. Martyr-in-Love Boota Singh) |
| Known for | His tragic love story |
| Spouse(s) | Zainab |
| Children | Tanveer Kaur (later Sultana) |
Boota Singh (Gurmukhi: ਬੂਟਾ ਸਿੰਘ; Shahmukhi: بُوٹا سنگھ), sometimes spelled as Buta Singh, was a Sikh ex-soldier of the British Army who served at the Burma front under the command of Lord Mountbatten during World War II. He is very well known in India and Pakistan for his tragic love story with Zainab, a Muslim girl he rescued during the communal riots in the time of partition of India in 1947. Both fell in love and got married. Later, being a Muslim, Zainab is deported and sent to the newly born Pakistan. Boota illegally enters Pakistan and when the girl backed off under the pressure from her family, he commits suicide by jumping before an upcoming train near Shahdara station in Pakistan along with his daughter but she survived.
The love story of Singh's life is widely adapted in films and books on both sides of the border. A Punjabi film Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh (1999) is entirely based on the story. Ishrat Rahmani wrote a novel, Muhabbat, based on the story. The story also influenced many other films including a 2007 Canadian film Partition and a 2001 Bollywood film Gadar.
In his suicide note, Singh expressed his last wish to be buried in Barki village where Zainab's parents resettled after partition. The autopsy of Singh's body was conducted in a hospital in Lahore and was taken to the village on 22 February 1957 for burial but the villagers didn't allow that and Singh was buried at Miani Sahib, the largest graveyard of Lahore.
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Wikipedia