Sukhdev Thapar, son of Ram Lal, was born on May 15, 1907 at Lyalpur now in Pakistan and holds place in the list of prominent Indian revolutionaries.
Late twenties witnessed the agitation of revolutionaries when Lala Lajpat Rai was beaten to death when heading an anti-Simon procession. The incident took place in Lahore. It was a great loss to the nation.
After this incident, number of revolutionaries emerged who added a highly significant chapter in Indian freedom History. Some revolutionaries in the North-west took the pledge of taking the revenge of the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai while they were present at his funeral on December 17, 1928 and Sukhdev was one such revolutionary. Consequently, Saunders who was Assistant of Commissioner of Police was killed in broad daylight. Sukhdev was among the prominent accused of the conspiracy.
Sukhdev actively participated in Indian freedom struggle with Chandrasekhar and Bhagat Singh. He had established a small factory that was used to manufacture bombs. He along with his associates organized number of cells in the Punjab as well as in other areas of North India.
Sukhdev was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He participated actively in the activities of the association and was among the senior leaders. He also had initiated study circles at National College located at Lahore now in Pakistan. The purpose was to explore the past of the nation and to scrutinize other revolutionary literature of other parts of the world and also the Russian Revolution.
Sukhdev began Naujawan Bharat Sabha in Lahore (Pakistan). The sole aim of this association was to attract more and more youth towards freedom struggle and encourage them to actively take part in the efforts to get freedom to the nation by instilling scientific attitude, to fight against communalism and eliminate the practice of untouchability. In the year 1929 during his, he went on hunger strike to protect the human rights of his inmates there.
Sukhdev was arrested along with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru for the killing of Saunders. All the three revolutionaries were given death sentenced and were hanged in Central Jail in Lahore on March 23, 1931. The time was 7:33 in the evening, though the punishment was against all hanging norms. Their bodies were taken secretly out of the jail by breaking the back walls. Their funeral took place at the banks of the river Satluj where their bodies were cut into pieces to make the process burning faster.
