Trained in swordsmanship & espionage, Laxmi Panda was the only Odia woman to serve in Netaji's INA

NEW DELHI: Laxmi Indira Panda, born in a camp near Rangoon in Myanmar, was only 14 when she joined Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA). The frail and petite teenager, who was initially refused by the INA camp commanders, was often sent across enemy lines for collection of intelligence.
"Age should not be an obstacle in the path of patriotism," Panda said soon after losing her parents while conveying her deep desire to join the freedom struggle. Laxmi Panda's parents were killed in a British bombardment and it was her determination to avenge their death which made her go to the INA Camp begging for enrolment. Her father was employed by the local unit of Netaji's Indian National Army.
After Subhas Chandra Bose allowed her in the Rani Jhansi Regiment under Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, she was initially given soft jobs of housekeeping and cooking. However, young Laxmi soon proved her mettle and won the hearts of her superiors at the camp. She was then trained in swordsmanship, shooting and espionage. Being well versed in Burmese, Laxmi Panda was often sent across enemy lines for gathering intelligence. Six months of intensive arms training in Burma shaped Laxmi into battle readiness for the onward march to the battlefront on the India-Burma border.
The only Odia woman to serve in INA, Laxmi Panda was right by the side of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose till the time he gave the call for disbandment of the armed force.
It was after the surrender of Singapore, the arrested members of the Indian National Army were classed as 'white', 'black', or 'grey' according to the perceived innocence or culpability of their motives. Panda had been classified as 'white', meaning she was a 'hardcore war criminal'. The British Secret Service agents were baffled by the petite teenager who had wielded .303 Lee Enfield rifles. They let her go free because of her teenager.
Left alone, she returned to Odisha and married an INA veteran Khageswar Panda of Berhampur who was a driver in the Hirakud Dam project. Laxmi lost her husband in 1976, after which she had to work as a housemaid for a living.
As she had never been to jail, she was deprived of freedom fighter status and pension by the government in the center. However, historian and heritage enthusiast Anil Dhir collected all documentary evidence about her from different sources and sent it to the then President Pratibha Patil. It was her intervention that Panda was finally conferred with Rashtria Swatantra Sainik Samman on October 25, 2008. She died two weeks after.