Buxa Fort
| Buxa Fort | |
|---|---|
| Alipurduar district, West Bengal | |
West Bengal
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 Buxa Fort
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| Coordinates | 26°45′17.86″N 89°34′49.04″E / 26.7549611°N 89.5802889°E |
| Type | Hill Fort / Prison |
| Height | 867 metres (2,844 ft) |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | British Raj |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Ruins |
| Site history | |
| Built by | British Empire |
| In use | Abandoned in 1951 |
| Materials | Bamboo (original), Stone |
| Battles/wars | Bhutan War |
Coordinates: 26°45′17.86″N 89°34′49.04″E / 26.7549611°N 89.5802889°E
Buxa Fort is located at an altitude of 867 metres (2,844 ft) in the Buxa Tiger Reserve, Alipurduar district, West Bengal. It is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Alipurduar, the nearest town. The Bhutan King used the fort to protect the portion of famous Silk Route connecting Tibet with India, via Bhutan. Still later during unrest in Occupation of Tibet, hundreds of refugees arrived at the place and used the then abandoned fort as refuge.
Its origin is uncertain. Before the occupation of the fort by the British, it was a point of contention between the King of Bhutan and the Cooch Kings.
The British on invitation of the Cooch King intervened and captured the fort which was formally handed over to the British on November 11, 1865 as part of Treaty of Sinchula. The British reconstructed the fort from its bamboo wood structure to stone structure. The fort was to later be used as a high security prison and detention camp in the 1930s; it was the most notorious and unreachable prison in India after the Cellular Jail in Andaman. Nationalist revolutionaries belonging to the Anushilan Samiti and Yugantar group such as Krishnapada Chakraborty were imprisoned there in the 1930s. Forward Bloc leader and ex-Law Minister of West Bengal, Amar Prasad Chakraborty, was also imprisoned at Buxa Fort in 1943. Besides, some communist revolutionaries and intellectuals like the poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay were captivated here in the 1950s.
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