Lakshmi Sehgal was an extraordinary Indian woman, a legendary freedom fighter, a medical doctor, a communist activist and a women’s leader. She underwent a long political evolution. As a young medical student she was drawn to the freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi; later she was influenced by Subhas Chandra Bose’s approach to the freedom struggle, became the leader of the all-woman Rani of Jhansi regiment of the Indian National Army. That is how Dr Lakshmi became Captain Lakshmi, the name by which she was known thereafter. Immediately after Independence, she restarted her medical practice, worked amongst refugees and the most marginalised sections of society; and later became an activist of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, was one of the leaders in the campaigns for political, economic and social justice.