Practising Law at Gurdaspur continues....


The judges I appeared before were Ganga Ram Wadhwa, who liked to decide nothing and please both parties by remanding all appeals that came to him in small-cause cases. In other cases he would proceed a little and then give a date. He was a happy-go-lucky person and would displease no one and do as little work as possible. E. T. Bhan, his successor, was a very clever and quick judge, but on the Bar’s complaint, was tried for corruption and sent to jail. Anderson who came next was a very capable and quiet judge. Rai Sahab Ganesh Das was a fast but irritable judge, though very good natured. He suffered from asthma. Dewan Som Nath was one of the finest subordinate judges I have ever seen, good tempered, of fine breeding, just and anxious to do justice, quick in disposal, a good sportsman and tennis player. Din Mohammad was a good magistrate. He was a resident of Amritsar and’ was polite and courteous. Lala Chandu Lal, Munsiff, was a very fine specimen of a loveable elderly person of true Aryan culture and very just and quick in disposal of cases. It was a pleasure to appear before him.

The three Deputy Commissioners during my stay at Gurdaspur were Watson, Escourt and Bosworth Smith. Watson was a man of great culture and a thorough gentleman. So was Escourt. Bosworth Smith was a bully, and ill-mannered. Once when his reader yawned in his court, he poured an inkpot down his throat!

But he eradicated corruption from the district. I have seen a Tehsildar with a bad reputation being publicly insulted by him. The Tehsildar came to receive the Sahib at the railway station with a retinue. The Sahib started poking his tummy with his walking stick and kept on saying, “It is all filled with bribe money.” He used to spare no one who was corrupt and his modus operandi was to insult the man in public and private.

Amongst the Sessions Judges in Gurdaspur was F. W. Skemp, a fine gentleman, patient and courteous as a Judge. He was a friend of my father.