Martyrs Day (Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru): 23 March

March 23 is celebrated as Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs’ Day in India. The day commemorates the hanging of India’s three freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru.  It was on March 23 in 1931, in Lahore (Pakistan), that these three were hanged to death for assassinating John Saunders, a British police officer in 1928.

They had mistook Saunders for British police superintendent James Scott, who had ordered lathi charge, which eventually led to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.