98-year-old freedom fighter celebrates Independence Day in Coimbatore

A 98-year-old freedom fighter celebrated the Independence Day at Alandurai in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Born in 1925 at Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, R. Hariputhran was part of the freedom struggle since he was 16 years old, said his daughter-in-law S. Vijayalakshmi (74). “He was part of the opposition spearheaded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and was also sent to prison twice,” she said. Mr. Hariputhran completed his engineering degree in a private institution in Bengaluru and worked with the telecommunication network. He has two sons — H. Subash Chandra (76), and H. Somasundaram (74).

Ms. Vijayalakshmi said that Mr. Hariputhran moved from Bengaluru to Coimbatore in 2021. “He was receiving the monthly pension for freedom fighters until March 2021. Due to technical issues at the bank, he has not been getting the pension for two years now. We have the application for pension, but the registration documents are unavailable,” she claimed.