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Historical Cases of Bombay High Court
PREFATORY
NOTE
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Many of the
cases described in this
Chapter are not of any great legal importance; and hardly nine or ten
out of them are to be found in the Law Reports. They are mostly
criminal trials which are of interest and importance by reason of
certain unusual or spectacular features, or some extraordinary
circumstances which caused a stir or sensation in the general public at
the time of their occurrence. They have been selected as likely
to appeal to the general reader, as distinct from lawyers. As
regards the majority of these cases, I have had to gather information
from various sources. Although there is no case in the Chapter of
the magnitude and the incredibly marvellous incidents of the Bhowal
Sanyasi Case, or of the diabolical cunning and merciless malignity of
the Plague Bacilli Case, with the Biblical primal curse, the curse of
Cain-a brother's murder-upon it, both of which came up before the
Calcutta High Court, most of these cases described here are of an
exceptional character; and of absorbing interest to laymen as well as
lawyers, either by reason of the facts described, or some unusual
features relating to their mode and course of trial. Almost all
of them, from the Rama Komathi Case in 1720, and the Maharaja Libel
Case in 1862 upto Bawla Murder Case in 1925, and the Kalbadevi Shooting
Case in 1946, have, in my opinion, sufficient interest to deserve a
place in any series of "Notable Trials".
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