Remembering Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru

The anniversary of the deaths of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru on 23 March 1931 is declared to be Martyr’s Day. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru sacrificed their lives for the independence of India.

Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru in December 1928, fatally shot a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore, British India, mistaking Saunders, who was still on probation, for the British police superintendent, James Scott, whom they had intended to assassinate.

They believed Scott was responsible for the death of popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai, by having ordered a lathi charge in which Rai was injured, and, two weeks after which, died of a heart attack. Saunders was felled by a single shot from Rajguru, a marksman.

Another associate of Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, shot dead an Indian police constable, Chanan Singh, who attempted to pursue Singh and Rajguru as they fled. Sukhdev Thapar was also an accomplice of Bhagat Singh, and Shivaram Rajguru, who conspired and killed J. P. Saunders the Deputy Superintendent of Police to avenge the violent death of a veteran leader, Lala Lajpat Rai.

Later Bhagat Singh and another associate, Batukeshwar Dutt, exploded two improvised bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. They could have fled the spot but they shouted slogans and then allowed the authorities to arrest them.

The three men and 21 other co-conspirators were tried under the provisions of a regulation that was introduced in 1930 specifically for that purpose All three were convicted of the charges and hanged on 23 March 1931. They were cremated at Hussainiwala at the banks of the Sutlej river in the Ferozepur district of Punjab.

They were ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. The schedule was moved forward by 11 hours and the three were hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in the Lahore jail. They became The 3 Pillars of India’s Freedom Movement so every year March 23 is celebrated as Shaheed Diwas, to pay homage to the Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar.

Suggested Read: Shaheed Diwas