ABSTRACT Jute (Hessian cloth) reinforced polymer composites were prepared with a mixture of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and aliphatic urethane diacrylate oligomer (EB-204), and then cured under gamma radiation. Thick pure polymer films (2 mm thickness) were prepared by using the same monomer and oligomer at different weight ratios, and 500 krad of total gamma radiation dose at 600 krad/hr was selected for the curing of all composites. Total radiation dose, jute content, and monomer concentration were optimized with the extent of mechanical properties. Among all resulting composites, the composite of 38% jute content at monomer:oligomer = 50:50 (w/w) ratios showed the better mechanical properties, such as 108% increase in tensile strength (TS), 58% increase in bending strength (BS), 138% increase in tensile modulus (TM), and 211% increase in bending modulus (BM) relative to pure polymer film. The gel content values were also found to increase with the increase of jute content in the composite. But the elongation at break (Eb) for both tensile and bending was found to decrease with increasing jute content. The best mechanical properties were obtained when jute fibers were pre-irradiated with UV radiation, such as 150% increase in TS, 90% increase in BS relative to polymer film, 19% increase in TS, and 15% increase in BS relative to untreated jute-based composites. A water uptake behavior investigation of the resulting composites was also performed and composites based on UV-treated jute showed the minimum water uptake value.