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Sukhdev Thapar (1907 - 1931)
Sukhdev Thapar, revolutionary freedom fighter who was hanged along with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, was born on 15 May 1907 to Ramlal and Ralli Devi Thapar in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Having lost his father at an early age, Sukhdev was raised by his uncle. It was the arrest of his uncle that led him to revolutionary activities for freedom from colonial rule.
Sukhdev joined the Naujawan Bharat Seva, which had been started by Bhagat Singh in 1926. The two became close friends and associates.
He was also an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). He became the chief of the Punjab unit of HSRA and instrumental in taking decisions. The HSRA was a radical organisation actively involved in revolutionary activities against the British government.
He showed a defiant spirit from an early age itself. During his school days, he would refuse to salute the British officers who visited his school.
In an anti-Simon Commission rally in 1928, veteran Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai was cruelly beaten with a lathi by a British police officer named James A Scott. Lajpat Rai succumbed to injuries sustained a few days later.
The young revolutionaries including Sukhdev decided to avenge Lajpat Rai’s death. As per Bhagat Singh’s biographer, it was Sukhdev who chose Bhagat Singh to assassinate Scott.
However, on 17th December 1928, Bhagat Singh and his accomplices Sukhdev and Rajguru killed an Assistant Superintendent of Police, John P. Saunders in a case of mistaken identity. After committing the act, the trio escaped.
The British government managed to capture all the people involved in the assassination.
Sukhdev was the prime accused in the Lahore Conspiracy Case of 1929, whose official title was "Crown versus Sukhdev and others.”
After the Central Assembly Hall bombings in New Delhi (8 April 1929), Sukhdev and his accomplices were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death
The FIR described Sukhdev as Swami alias villager, son of Ram Lal, caste Thapar Khattri.
While lodged in prison, Sukhdev and his friends went on a hunger strike demanding improved conditions for political prisoners.
Despite tremendous pressure on the government to spare the youngsters, on 23 March 1931, Thapar was hanged in Lahore Central Jail, along with Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru. Their bodies were secretly cremated at the banks of the River Sutlej. Rajguru was just 23 years old.
March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas or Sarvodaya Day to remember these freedom fighters.
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