How a mistaken assassination turned a 23-year-old revolutionary into an Indian folk hero

Countries & Cities · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Bhagat Singh was an anti-colonial revolutionary whose life was defined by a tragic case of mistaken identity. After his group accidentally killed a junior police officer in Lahore, Singh transformed his subsequent trial and imprisonment into a national stage, ultimately becoming a martyr whose name echoed across Northern India.

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and his associates in the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association sought to avenge the death of nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai. They targeted James Scott, the police superintendent they held responsible for a fatal baton charge. Instead, they mistakenly shot and killed John P. Saunders, a 21-year-old officer on probation. The group escaped, but Singh later surfaced in April 1929 to bomb the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. This act was designed to ensure his arrest, allowing him to use the courtroom to publicize his anti-colonial cause.

While awaiting trial, Singh joined a hunger strike to demand better conditions for Indian prisoners, protesting the discrimination between European and Indian inmates. The strike lasted 116 days and gained national attention, though it resulted in the death of his associate Jatindra Nath Das from starvation in September 1929. The government eventually bypassed standard judicial processes, establishing a special tribunal to expedite the Lahore Conspiracy Case. This tribunal sentenced Singh, Sukhdev, and Shivaram Rajguru to death for the murder of Saunders.

Despite appeals to the Privy Council and mercy pleas filed by figures like Madan Mohan Malaviya, the sentence stood. Singh was executed by hanging in March 1931 at age 23. While his actions were condemned by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Singh became a powerful symbol of national honor. Jawaharlal Nehru noted that while the specific acts of violence were eventually forgotten, the symbol of Singh remained, resonating through the towns and villages of the Punjab and beyond as a folk hero and martyr.

Singh’s legacy is complex, as he was an atheist and socialist who later found admirers across a broad political spectrum, including both communists and right-wing Hindu nationalists. His life and death prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress regarding their nonviolent campaign for independence. Today, he is sometimes referred to as the Shaheed-e-Azam, or Great Martyr, a testament to his enduring influence on Indian history.

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