Early 1946... that was the period when the Indian Freedom Movement was zooming upwards towards its crescendo and in February there was a mutiny among the sailors in the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay. Such event was almost unheard of in the history of Indian Navy and was interpreted by leaders, politicians, historians and social analysts as a strong indication of the feeling of anger and rebellious spirit simmering to a boil in the hearts and souls of Indians.
Following this event, there was unrest and even riots in the country, and Madras which was a strong citadel of the freedom movement was expectedly no exception. Here in the City of Francis Day, Robert Clive and Fort St. George there was considerable unrest and on February 21, there was a vociferous form of public protest, which in ‘Indian English’ is known as ‘hartal’.
Crowds gathered in large numbers all over the city especially in the busy areas like Mount Road and George Town. There was considerable agitation generated around the Fort Railway Station and Muthuswami Iyer Bridge. The protestors, mostly young men, stopped passing vehicles to mark their protest. One such vehicle passing that way that eventful morning was that of Mr. Justice John Austin Byers. Along with this ‘white’ British judge of the Madras high court, Mr. Justice C. Kunhiraman was also seated in the car.
The crowds noticing the white -skinned man in the car zeroed on to it and stopped it. The crowds now increased and surrounding the car near the Fort Station demanded the Englishman to get out of the car. Of course, they were not aware of the identity of the man who showed no inclination to get out of the car!
That was not all. He refused to comply with the demand of the crowd but also suddenly and unexpectedly, he pulled out his revolver, which he had always kept for his protection, and shot into the crowd!
The sudden sound of the shots…the resultant shock... Screaming crowds... and confusion filled the atmosphere, and as an unfortunate consequence a seventeen-year-old boy fell a victim to the gunshot and died. Now the crowds surrounding the car became understandably enraged and screamed for revenge and police near about had a tough time in saving the judge, the car and its other occupants and taking them to safety.
As a boy met with death by the shooting, a case was filed against Justice Byers under Section 304 IPC, ‘Culpable Homicide Not Amounting To Murder.’ The shooting incident and its consequences created an unprecedented sensation and shock not only in Madras City, but also the rest of the country and even in Great Britain as it was then known.
On March 20, 1946, Justice Byers was arrested and produced before the Chief Presidency Magistrate S. M. Hassan, ICS sitting at Egmore. He was released on bail with the surety of two Englishmen. C.D. Venkataramanan was the then Assistant Prosecutor who conducted the prosecution in the bail application.
Befitting a high court judge’s status, the magistrate asked Byers to be seated which was not liked by many Indians! V.L. Ethiraj appeared for Byers.
The Madras high court Bar Association which consisted in those days of many barristers felt disturbed about this case against the High Court judge. (This Association was formed in 1866 and in the early decades only barristers, British and Indian, could become members.) A young barrister with somewhat leftist leanings A. Ramachandran led an agitation with a group of young lawyers which passed a resolution that Byers should not be allowed to sit on the Bench during the pendency of the case. Ramachandran asked Ethiraj, a member of the association to act on the resolution.
Even though Byers was his client Ethiraj undertook to act accordingly and assured his young friend Ramachandran and others that he was as much a patriotic Indian as the others were and that his client was a British judge did not alter his patriotic feelings .
At once, he met the then Chief Justice Sir Lionel Leach along with Byers and told him about the resolution, and mood of the Bar. Sir Lionel could easily feel the pulse of the situation and agreed to the suggestion of Ethiraj that during the pendency of the trial no case would be posted for hearing before the judge who was now an accused in a lower court.
The Madras high court advocates’ association which was founded by ‘native vakils’ in 1900 ( at first it was called Madras Vakils’ Association) also called for an urgent meeting and passed a resolution that Byers should not be allowed to sit on the Bench and decide cases.
The then Advocate- General of the Madras high court, and one of the leading lawyers of Madras, K. Rajah Iyer met Sir Lionel Leach, and told him about the mood of the local Indian advocates and also the protest meeting. The Chief Justice told the Advocate- General that Justice Byers would not sit and hear cases. This was a signal victory for the Madras Bar and all felt happy thereafter…!
At the trial before the Chief Presidency Magistrate, Byers was defended by Ethiraj while P. Chandra Reddi, the then Crown Prosecutor, was in charge of prosecution.
Palagani Chandra Reddi, who hailed from Nellore, was a successful lawyer of the Madras high court and later became a judge at Madras and the Chief Justice of both Madras and Andhra Pradesh courts. For a while, he also acted as the Governor of Madras.
(To be continued; this is the first of a weekly column)
