Court of lore Five quirky facts about the 150-year-old Bombay High Court

The High Court of Bombay is currently in its hundred-and-fiftieth-year. To celebrate, Time Out rounds up five things you might not have known about the courts history and architecture. The building was the architectural Antilla of its day. After the building was completed in 1878, everyone criticised it. The Times of India published a lengthy editorial in 1879 calling it Fullers Folly after its architect, John Augustus Fuller. The editorial also criticised the design of the courtrooms which made it difficult to hear the lawyers or witnesses and noted that the librarys reference shelves were so high that the librarian refused to retrieve them unless his life was insured by the court (the insurance company insured him at war risk). One hundred and twenty five years later, in 2003,The Times of India called the building a majestic neo-Gothic masterpiece. The interiors are peppered with cheeky carvings. The neo-Gothic architecture is certainly imposing. So its a bit of a thrill to find animals camouflaged in the intricate floral designs, slyly poking fun at the officers of the court. In the book The Bombay High Court: The story of the building 1878-2003, Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra draw attention to carvings that they believe were sculpted by Fullers assistant engineer, Mukund Ramchandra. One depicts a fox wearing a lawyers collar and bands. Another shows a monkey with a patch on one eye, holding scales in one hand and a sword in the other. The high court once had an American-style jury system. For the first 98 years of its life in fact, until it was abolished by the Indian government in 1960 after the famous Nanavati case, in which naval commander Kawas Nanavati was pronounced not guilty of murdering his wifes lover despite a full confession. Some believe the jury was swayed by the media and Nanavati's charisma. One of the most interesting cases under the jury system was the 1874 trial of 50 rioters, 48 of them Parsi, for trying to destroy a chawl and tent that they believed was unlawfully occupying the land adjacent to the Towers of Silence. Eventually, the jury acquitted all the accused. This, according to PB Vachhas book Famous Judges, Lawyers & Cases of Bombay, was because of a Parsi juror who refused to compromise. Since jurors at that time were locked in a room until they reached a unanimous verdict, he had his way and all the rioters were released. Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was tried for sedition here in 1908.Tilak was sent to prison for six years and fined Rs1,000 by a nine-member jury made up of seven foreigners, who found him

guilty, and two Indians who disagreed (by this time, verdicts no longer had to be unanimous). The central courtroom where Tilak was found guilty today has a large portrait of him staring down at justice being served. Dwivedi and Mehrotras book draws attention to a marble plaque on the first floor of the high court commemorating Tilaks last words in the trial. In spite of the verdict of the jury I maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations and it may be the will of providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my suffering than by my remaining free. Tilak argued the 1908 trial himself but when he was tried for sedition again in 1914, he was defended by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who got him acquitted. The high court has a well that once attracted the sick and the suicidal. The square well in front of the high court was famous for having marvellous powers. Vachha writes that Gujarati Hindus would come to the well every morning to fill large containers with water. But like the roof of the adjacent Rajabai Tower, the high court well was also a magnet for depressed people contemplating suicide. According to Vachha, two or three people drowned their sorrows in its murky depths every year. At least one of these suicide victims was a rejected suitor who seem to have chosen this spot as a protest against the injustice of fate, writes Vachha. Perhaps this is why the well is sealed today.
By Nergish Sunavala on September 16 2011 5.46am Photos by Farooq Issa, Phillips Antiques