Sir Shankaran Nair and Story of the Jallianwala Bagh

Shankaran Nair was a prominent Indian lawyer, judge, and statesman known for his role in India's legal and political history, particularly during the British colonial era.

Context: On the 106th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919). PM Narendra Modi highlighted Shankarna Nair’s bold legal resistance against the British Empire.

About Shankaran Nair

Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair (1857–1934) was a prominent Judge, Nationalist leader, & Social reformer.
He was born in 1857 in Mankara village, Palakkad district (Kerala) in an aristocratic family.
In 1897, he became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress (Youngest at that time)
In 1908, he was appointed as a permanent judge of the Madras High Court.
- Sankaran Nair famous judgments:
  - Budasna v Fatima (1914), he ruled that those who converted to Hinduism could not be treated as outcastes.

He played a key role in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919), which increased Indian participation in administration.
He resigned from the Viceroy’s Council in protest after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
In his book “Gandhi and Anarchy” (1922), he criticised Gandhi’s methods of non-violence and civil disobedience.
He is most remembered for:
- His strong stand against British colonial atrocities, especially after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919).
- His landmark legal battle against British official Michael O’Dwyer in a defamation case in England.