Noor Inayat Khan’s Bust to be Unveiled at London by Princess Anne

Britain's Princess Anne unveiled the Bronze Bust of Noor Inayat Khan in London, reckoned to be a heroine of the World War II on 8 November 2012 for the role that she played as a secret agent in the secret mission against the Nazis. The Bronze Bust was unveiled at Gordon Square the place, where Noor Inayat lived at the time.

Noor Inayat Khan was world’s first lady radio operator, who was infiltrated in the then occupied France and pass on the information of the allies. She was caught at Dachau Concentration Camp and killed. The decision came up giving an end to the several years of campaign that was run by the Noor Inayat Memorial Trust and also by Shrabani Basu, her biographer, for reviving the memory of the War heroine, who by now was almost forgotten.

This campaign of winning recognition to the forgotten heroine of the World War II was also supported by several Parliamentarians, the British Prime Minister David Cameron and John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons. The rights activist Shami Chakrabarti and filmmaker Gurinder Chadha also supported this campaign.

Karen Newman, a London based Artist has sculptured the bust. The Noor Inayat Memorial Trust was successful in raising £60,000 as funds from the Public.

About Noor Inayat Khan

She was a daughter of American mother, Ora Ray Baker and an Indian Father Hazrat Inayat Khan and was born in Moscow, Russia. She was a descendent to the 18th century ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan.  At the age of six, she along with her family shifted to London and when occupation opportunities in Paris declined sharply, she being a volunteer joined Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and was in due course, was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for secret operations.

She was the first women radio operator infiltrate to the Nazi occupied France as a secret agent. She was caught and killed at the Dachau Concentration Camp and her last word before the death was Liberte. She was posthumously awarded with two awards from France and Britain the Croix de Guerre and the George Cross respectively.

Rights of a film on Noor Inayat Khan

Zafar Hai and Tabrez Noorani, the two producers have obtained rights of the book Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu in September 2012, in order to create a film.