Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91

Vol. XXVII No. 9, August 16-31, 2017

They bestrode this 125-year-old building

CaptureMore excerpts from a talk given by N.L. Rajah, Senior Advocate, at a function organised by the Madras Bar Association on 12.7.17 to “celebrate the 125th anniversary of this epic building”.

(Continued from last fortnight)

Of the four reasons that provide justification for celebrating this building, the third is that it is an institution where many important and sensational cases have been decided. The list is too long for me to do justice to them, but I will highlight a few here.

V.O. Chidambaram was a member of our bar and a member of the Madras Bar Association as he was a barrister. He was sentenced to 40 years rigorous imprisonment on charges of sedition. The charges against him were flimsy and evidence scant, but he had put the commercial interests of the British empire on the back foot by starting the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company. This annoyed the British no end and through Collector Winch they, quite successfully, managed to fabricate a case of sedition against him and have him convicted.
An appeal was filed by him before the Madras High Court and the case caused quite a sensation. Ultimately the High Court reduced the sentence, which was reduced even further by the Privy Council. However, it left V.O.C. a broken man. The shipping company’s assets had been sold and he was left practically penniless.

The case relating to the murder of collector Robert Ashe followed soon afterward. Robert Ashe was an ICS officer and a young sub-collector at Tuticorin. Ashe hated Indians and the target of his attack was V.O.C. He vowed to put down that cheeky impudent native lawyer. Ashe’s actions against V.O.C. angered Indians. On June 17, 1911, when Ashe was travelling by train with his wife, a young firebrand revolutionary, Vachinatha Iyer, got into the compartment and shot Ashe dead. When the police gave chase, he ran into a toilet in the railway station and shot himself.

Letters seized in his residence pointed to a conspiracy. Fourteen young men were implicated, including one Nilkanta Brahmachari. Normally the trial should have been conducted in Tirunelveli, but the attention this case attracted persuaded the High Court to take it on its own files. Several of the accused were defended by that stalwart T.

Prakasam. The case was first heard by a three-judge bench which convicted the accused, but in appeal some of those accused were acquitted. Vanchinathan came to be treated as a martyr of the Independence movement, but unfortunately Nilkanta Brahmachari has been forgotten.

The Poondi Mirasdar case is of interest for the use of technology in legal proceedings, possibly the first in the country. The Mirasdar of Poondi was accused of murdering his daughter-in-law. The entire family appeared to have had a strained relationship with the victim.

This feud was primarily triggered by bad blood between Dhanam, the daughter-in-law, and her sister-in-law who had been widowed and had returned to live in her father’s house. Dhanam was found dead on her bed hacked to death horribly. The Mirasdar of Poondi was implicated.

Before the Trial Court, the accused was represented by that redoubtable criminal lawyer, Dr. S. Swaminathan. Dr. Swaminathan’s life must truly be an inspiration for young advocates. He came from a poor family, but through sheer grit and determination he pursued studies relentlessly and came out with flying colours. A Nair family in Kerala who funded his education helped him pass the Bar-at-Law and from there he sailed to Harvard in America, where he got his doctorate in record time. He came back to Madras to practice law. Appearing for the Poondi Mirasdar, he was deeply disturbed by the judgement of the High Court. He then did something incredible. He telegraphed the entire grounds of appeal to Privy Council in London. The presiding judge was on a holiday in France. He received the appeal and granted a stay. The case was thereafter argued in Privy Council and the Mirasdar of Poondi was acquitted.

There have been other sensational cases too. Noteworthy are A.K. Gopalan vs State of Madras which for the first time in the constitutional history of this country gave an opportunity to the Supreme Court to examine the scope and ambit of Article 21; Champakam Doraisamy’s case which ruled on the scope of reservations in the Constitution and led to the first amendment to the Constitution by Dr. Ambedkar; Romesh Thapar vs State of Madras that led to the Supreme Court dilating on the concept of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution; amongst others. This brief list serves to highlight how some of the very significant cases in the history of the country happened in this great building.

The stalwarts

The last aspect I mentioned was as to how this building has nurtured the growth of some towering stalwarts who contributed much to the public life of this country.

They include:
Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, a District Munsif, must easily top the list. Though he predates this building he was very much a part of the profession. He wrote the first novel in Tamil, a book called Pratapa Mudaliyar Charithram. He has written several krti-s which have been set to Carnatic music raga-s. Some of them even deal with court life.

T. Muthusamy Iyer, the first Indian to be made a judge of the High Court, became a by-word for judicial conduct, learning, integrity and discipline.

Pammal Sammandha Mudaliar, a judge of the Small Causes Court, set standards for Tamil drama which artistes are striving to emulate even today.

Bhashyam Iyengar, the first Indian to hold the position of Acting Advocate General in the whole of British India.
S. Subramania Iyer, the first Indian to be appointed as a Government advocate, was elevated to the Bench. After he retired, he rendered sterling service to the Madras University and also the Home Rule movement of Annie Besant.

Advocates like C. Rajagopalachari, Sathyamurthi, and T. Prakasam were all part of the freedom struggle. On that aspect alone, there is a list of at least fifty names.

V.L. Ethiraj contributed immensely to the education of women by donating his palatial residence to the cause of women’s education. So too Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Row. And the contributions of Justice Basheer Ahamed Sayeed to the education of Muslim women has few parallels.

Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer’s contribution to drafting the Constitution of India is well known. And Rajamannar served with great distinction as the first Indian Chief Justice of the Madras High Court and was the envy of courts in the country.
(Concluded)

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