Article – Shaheed Diwas (23rd March, 1931)

Every year, March 23 known as Shaheed Diwas or Sarvodaya Day is

observed as Martyrs Day as a tribute to freedom fighters. On this day,
those who laid out their lives for us, and our Independence, are
remembered. The day, in particular, pays tribute to Bhagat Singh (23
years), Sukhdev Thapar (23 years old), and Shivaram Rajguru (22 years
old) who died on March 23 in 1931.
They fought for the freedom of India from the colonial rulers and
sacrificed their lives. They were hanged to death by the British for the
assassination of British Police Officer John Saunders in 1928.
In a mistaken identity, John P Saunders who was then an Assistant
Superintendent of Police was killed by Rajguru and Bhagat Singh. On
December 17, 1928, Saunders was shot when he was leaving the
District Police Headquarters in Lahore.
They had mistook him for British police superintendent James Scott. It
was Scott who had ordered lathi charge, which eventually led to the
death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
Although, Bhagat Singh didn’t witness Lala’s death, he vowed to take
revenge with the help of other revolutionaries including Shivram
Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad. They came up
with a plan to kill Superintendent of Police James A Scott, who had
ordered lathi charge on Lala Lajpat Rai.
In April 1929, Bhagat Singh and his associate Batukeshwar Dutt
exploded 2 bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in
Delhi to protest against the Trade Dispute Act and the Public
Safety Bill. The bomb didn’t kill anyone but a few were injured.
Bhagat Singh could have escaped the attack but he and
Batukeshwar stayed there shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. This led
to Bhagat Singh’s arrest.
Sukhdev was arrested after police located the bomb factory in
Lahore and Saharanpur.
Although Sukhdev and Singh were arrested in different cases, the police
connected the dots and charged Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru for killing
Saunders and sentenced them to death. The case was later known as
the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were scheduled to be hanged on
March 24 but were hanged a day before on March 23 at 7:30 pm.
These three were among the countless who sacrificed their lives for the
nation and died when they were very young. They lives inspired
countless youth and in their death, they set an example. And in doing
so, they carved out their own path for independence where individual
heroism and their aggressive need to do something for the nation stood
out, departing from the path followed by the Congress leaders then.

Thank you
Sumit Suman