CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Leela Roy

Indian independence activist and politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ6516265
Source-derived summary

Leela Roy (née Nag; 2 October 1900 – 11 June 1970) was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and reformer, and a close associate of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She was born in Goalpara, Assam, to Girish Chandra Nag, who was a deputy magistrate, and her mother was Kunjalata Nag. She was the first female student of Dhaka University.

Family

She was born into an upper middle class Bengali Kayastha family in Goalpara district of North-East Frontier and educated at Bethune College in Calcutta, graduating in 1917. She stood first among the girls and was awarded the 'Padmabati Gold Medal' along with a cash prize of Rs. 100 on 2 October 1917 by the department of English. Her father was Girischandra Nag. He was the tutor of Subhas Chandra Bose. She fought with university authorities and became the first woman to be admitted to the University of Dhaka and earned her M.A. degree. Co-education was not permitted in Dhaka University.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Leela Roy” as indian independence activist and politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Leela, Indian and independence.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1900, 1970, 1917—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1900-10-02. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Leela, Indian and independence providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Leela Roy”, the useful work is to connect “indian independence activist and politician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6516265. VIAF identifies the subject as 19314800. The Library of Congress control number is no99053803. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1970 and 1917.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Leela Roy”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Leela Roy primary sources, Leela Roy archive and Leela research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Leela Roy”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Leela Roy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.