Veer Bhai Kotwal

Vithal Laxman Kotwal (alias Bhai) Marathi वीर भाई कोतवाल was a social reformer and revolutionary from Neral, Maharashtra, India. He laid down his life in the freedom struggle of the country. He was killed in an encounter with the British police officer DSP R. Hall while he was underground with his team in the jungle of Sidhagadh on 2 January 1943.

Vithal Kotwal was born on 1 December 1912 in Matheran, a hill station near Mumbai, in the district Raigad. He belonged to the poor barber family. He stayed there till he studied fourth grade in the local school and returned only after he graduated from Pune in 1936. He was the eldest and had three sisters.

After studying till fourth grade in the local school, he shifted to Pune to her aunt Gaurutai Halde, where he stayed till he completed his graduation from Wadia college. He stood first in the entire Pune district in his Vernacular Metric exam. After he returned to his native place, he studied law in Mumbai and became advocate in 1941.

Vithal Kotwal was married to Indu Tirlapurkar from Pune in 1935. He had a boy named Bharat who died at the age of 22. His daughter Jagruti died within two months when Mr. Kotwal was underground in 1942. His wife Indu Kotwal died in 2012 at the age of 91.

As soon as Vithal Kotwal returned to Matheran he got into socio political activities defying his father’s wish to carry on their family tradition. He began helping people when cyclone hit entire western Mumbai shore and fisherman community got displaced. Later in coordination with the local congress leader Rajaram alias Bhausaheb Raut, he got involved in politics and social work. He helped creating and enrolling common people in the voters’ list in the Matheran area. When he came across to see that landlords cheat peasants due to their ignorance he stated voluntary school for the children of these farmers. He altogether started 42 such schools in the area. Later, when landlords denied food grain to the farmers at the time of drought, Vithal Kotwal came up with the innovative idea of grain bank for the farmers. With the financial support of Mr. Raut, a few thousand kilos of grain were imported and distributed amongst the farmers. Whoever took a grain loan had to replace it with twenty-five percent extra; whereas the landlords used to charge them double the loan. Later when he became an advocate he served the poor peasants and downtrodden to fight for their right against the landlords who exploited them. In 1940 he organized a peasants and workers congregation in Karjat where prominent political activists of the time Achyutrao Patwardhan, S. M. Joshi, Lalji Pendse attended.

Vithal Kotwal successfully fought the election for Matheran city council and became vice chairman in 1941.

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