He was born in 1882 at village Khurdpur, District Jullundur. He was the son of Budh Singh who was a well respected man in the area. He joined 36 Battalion of the Indian Army. He was influenced by sant Karam Singh at Madras. He resigned his service after a period of ten years and then in April, 1906 went to Canada.He was a popular figure among the Indian community in Canada.He led the struggle for unjust immigration law of Canada. In 1911 he came to India with Bhag Singh and Sunder Singh and toured India to tell the people about the difficulties in Canada. At Vancouver, their families were refused permission to get down from the ship. Ultimately they were given provisional entry to Canada. But once in, they refused to leave Canada in any case, for which Balwant Singh and his companions had to undergo great difficulties. After that Balwant Singh became an ardent freedom-fighter. When the Kamagata Maru passengers were denied permission to land and were in great trouble, Balwant Singh played a leading role in collecting funds for them. As a result the authorities came down heavily upon him and implicated him in a false case of murder of an Emigration Inspector. Although nothing could be proved against him and he was released, things were made so hot for him that he had to leave immediately along with his whole family.He stayed back at Shinghai to work for the freedom movement after sending his family back to India. In 1925 he went to Bankok where he was arrested.He was first brought to Singapore and then to Lahore. After the mockery of a trial in the Lahore Central jail he was hanged in 1916.