Bhagat Singh was a member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, a revolutionary party in the Indian freedom struggle. He was an atheist who believed in socialism, and he wrote several articles on anarchism and socialism for Kirti.He was arrested on 8 April 1929 in connection with the Central Legislative Assembly bombing case and was sentenced to 14 years life imprisonment. He was re-arrested in connection with the murder of John Saunders, a deputy superintendent of police who was killed by Sukhdev, Rajguru, and Bhagat Singh in 1928 in retaliation for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.

In that case, the trial began and he was transferred to Lahore jail. In the jail, on 4 October 1930, Baba Randhir Singh, a religious man and member of Ghadar Party who was convicted in the first Lahore conspiracy case, met Bhagat Singh and tried to incite his belief in God; however, Bhagat Singh did not change his stand. Thereafter, Randhir Singh said “You are giddy with fame and have developed an ego which is standing like a black curtain between you and the God”. As a reply to Randhir Singh, he wrote this essay on 5 and 6 October 1930.

On 7 October 1930, all three of the defendants were convicted in the murder of Saunders and sentenced to death. On 23 March 1931, they were executed by hanging in the Lahore jail (present-day Shadman Chowk or Bhagat Singh Chowk).