Madan Lal Dhingra was perhaps the first Indian freedom fighter to be executed on British soil. He died in London on Aug 17, 1909. It is strange that no one in the Indian government has paid any attention to the need to commemorate the event.

Dhingra was born Feb 18, 1883 in Amritsar into a very rich family. His father, Ditta Mal, retired as a government civil surgeon and had 21 houses in Katra Sher Singh and six bungalows on G.T. Road. Ditta Mal shifted from his village Sahiwal in Sargodha district, now in Pakistan, in 1850 and he held 10 bigha land and a haveli in his ancestral village. He held the title of Rai Saheb, given by the British government.

Dhingra's father also had six buggies and his car ran on Amritsar's roads, the first Indian to have this privilege in the city. He had seven sons and a daughter. Three of his sons were trained medical doctors and three were barristers-bar at law. One of his brothers, Bihari Lal Dhingra, was a notorious prime minister of Jind state.

It was into such a family that the rebellious son was born. He did physical labour while studying science in Lahore, where he got influenced by the 'Pagdi Sambhal Jatta' movement of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, uncle of Bhagat Singh. He later went to England for higher studies, reaching London after two months by ship.

Dhingra took admission in an engineering course but quickly became involved in India's freedom struggle. He was influenced by Shyamji Krishan Verma and Veer Savarkar.