Off Anna Salai in Chennai and halfway through a kilometre-long busy stretch stands a college with a 75-year-old legacy. This women’s college shares a part of its name with the stretch too, a moniker that remains etched on the minds of the city’s residents. The name is that of a barrister and philanthropist, the first Indian public prosecutor of the Madras High Court, and the founder of Ethiraj College for Women (ECW).
Born in 1890, Vellore Lakshmanaswamy Ethiraj’s life was a long series of happy events and can only motivate young lawyers, as Suresh Balakrishnan, lawyer and author of Eardley Norton: A Biography, outlines in his other book Famous Judges and Lawyers of Madras. Ethiraj’s personality and the ideals he upheld were behind his triumphs in a field once dominated by British lawyers. “He was a humble man who held his mind boldly, and was held in high esteem by those around him. He always presented a sense of fairness in his actions. He had a way of life and treated people with respect,” says V.M. Muralidharan, chairman, ECW, and great-grandnephew of Ethiraj, recalling the stories he has heard about the barrister.
‘A prudent decision’
In 1909, aged 19, Ethiraj discontinued his education at the Presidency College in Madras to pursue law in England. On November 23, 1913, he enrolled in the Madras Bar as an advocate under senior advocate S. Swaminathan. Ethiraj rose to stardom when he forayed into criminal law and took up cases of rape and murder that many advocates of the time shunned. “This turned out to be a prudent decision in his career,” Mr. Balakrishnan says in his book.
A report by late lawyer and columnist Madabhushi Rangadorai, popularly known as Randor Guy, in The Hindu dated July 29, 1990, highlights Ethiraj’s skills of advocacy. “He looked for a loose brick in the prosecution to demolish it. He relied on human psychology and studied judges as thoroughly as he did the case files.” In fact, Ethiraj, as Mr. Balakrishnan says quoting his juniors, adopted a persuasive approach towards his cases as opposed to pompous arguments. He was not known to speak for long but would rather cut to the chase. “My father used to say he [Ethiraj] used to prepare for hours and hours, even for a mere 10-minute argument. That helped him piece the narratives together; he knew the right set of blocks or the one particular block to crack, to get through,” says Mr. Muralidharan.
In a career spanning over four decades, Ethiraj had appeared in several famous and infamous cases. The most well-known of them is the Lakshmikanthan murder case trial in 1945, in which M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and N.S. Krishnan — leading stars of the Tamil cinema — were among the accused. Ethiraj had appeared for them and got them acquitted in 1947. The ‘Mud Lamp case’ in 1929 showcased his stellar attention to detail: he deduced that there was no sufficient illumination during the time of murder. This resulted in the acquittal of the accused. For the Kakinada conspiracy case of 1937, he was offered a hefty fee, which he used to buy a Bentley car. In the Kadambur case of 1920, he assisted Swaminathan and was able to get the acquittal of the Kadambur Zamindar’s son charged with the murder of Clement De La Haye, the principal of Newington House, a college in Madras.
He had also appeared in the Emmanual Sekaran murder case, in which Forward Bloc leader U. Muthuramalinga Thevar was among those arrested. He asked the court that Thevar be provided with a chair, drawing applause from the visitors. As a defence lawyer, he had appeared in the Kallakudi railway station renaming demonstration case, in which DMK stalwart and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi was an accused. “The city remembers him as a great lawyer. He is a doyen of the Criminal Bar. The High Court judges held him in high regard. He was a great public prosecutor who always informed the court about the good and bad points of the case. With an ever-pleasant demeanour and gentle, persuasive arguments, he is reputed to have had a phenomenal capacity to get the court to see his point of view even in very difficult matters. That was his hallmark,” says N.L. Rajah, a senior advocate of the Madras High Court. “The law was very traditional those days. There were only three segments — criminal, civil and company law. He possessed phenomenal skill in his domain,” says M.S. Krishnan, another senior advocate of the High Court, recalling conversations among his peers on Ethiraj.
Towards philanthropy
In 1944, Ethiraj donated ₹10 lakh for establishing a women’s college in Madras. It was opened in 1948. It was among the first few women’s colleges in Madras. Asked whether it was a planned decision, Mr. Muralidharan says, “There is no certain answer to that. All that he had saved he decided to dedicate to one particular cause. Had he wished, he could have donated the amount to different causes, but he did not. Around 1948, he started giving more time to the college than his profession. He had also given away the title deeds of two bungalows for the college.”
However, persuading parents to enrol their wards was extremely difficult in the initial few years, says Mr. Muralidharan. “But today, what he [Ethiraj] had invested in has blossomed. From just about 96 students in the first year, we have over 7,800 students now. So he would have done this with a sense of purpose.” The college has produced several notable alumni, including politicians, police officers and actors.
Ethiraj had also taken care of his juniors. An excerpt from Mr. Balakrishnan’s book narrates how he saved the widow of his junior from eviction by registering a house in her name and giving her a hefty sum to take care of herself. “No one knew this philanthropic act, as he had never advertised it,” the excerpt reads.
Besides, Ethiraj was a pious man and donated to temples, recalls Mr. Muralidharan. Interestingly, he was a student of former President S. Radhakrishnan when he studied at the Presidency College. He died of cancer on August 18, 1960. As part of his 100th year commemoration in 1989, the Commander-in-Chief Road was renamed as Ethiraj Salai by Karunanidhi. Today, the college and the road testify to his legacy.
