Late Madhusudan Das
was an outstanding personality and influential leader of his time. Born in
Odisha on April 28, 1848, he led an eventful life marked by manifold
accomplishments in diverse fields. Widely acclaimed for exceptionally high
standard of service and sacrifice for the cause of Odisha and India, he
breathed his last on February 4, 1934. In 1903 he founded the Utkal Sammilani
(Utkal Union Conference) which became the nucleus of the historic movement to
unify the Odia-speaking areas and create a separate State of Odisha on the
basis of language.
A celebrated lawyer,
he is part of the folklore of Odisha for achieving extraordinary excellence in
the field of law and jurisprudence. His entrepreneurial skills proved his
credentials as a dynamic man with a proven legacy for harnessing the business
acumen of the people and developing their skills for economically empowering
them and enhancing their self-esteem. The Utkal Tannery he established in 1905
to manufacture shoes and use leather for other economic purposes made a
profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi who repeatedly referred to it in many parts
of India in the context of his arduous efforts for providing alternative
occupations to village people who predominantly depended on agriculture to earn
their livelihood. Affectionately hailed as Madhubabu in the annals of modern
Odisha, a lot has been written and said about him. It is, therefore, important
to throw light on some of the extremely critical and sensitive aspects of his
remarkable life which have hardly been discussed and disseminated.
WOMEN’S
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION
There is a
significant gender dimension to one of the epoch-making events of his life. In
the year 1848 in which he was born, Jyotiba Phule established the first ever
school for girls in our country. It was in the same year that Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, the revolutionary document
which inspired generations of exploited people to unchain themselves from
bondage, exploitation and servitude. The establishment of the first girls’
school in 1848 by Jyotiba Phule was as revolutionary as the Communist
Manifesto. Madhubabu, who was born in the year in which the first school for
girls was established, took the initiative to establish the first women’s
college in Odisha in 1913. He named that college after his adopted daughter,
Sailabala, and now it is known as the Sailabala Women’s College enjoying high
reputation as an educational institution of excellence. The fact that he
founded that College in 1913 spoke volumes of his deep commitment to empower
women through education and promote the cause of gender equality and women’s
empowerment. One may say that establishment of the Sailabala Women’s College by
Madhubabu was as revolutionary a step as the establishment of the first girls’
school by Jyotiba Phule and publication of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and
Engels.
To further appreciate
his decision to establish the first women’s college in 1913, we need to
understand the developments taking place then, both nationally and
internationally, concerning women and their struggle for achieving equality and
equal opportunity.
At that time in
Odisha itself some of the great minds were exercised by the lack of
opportunities for girls and women to have access to education. This was evident
from a few of the articles written in the 1920s by none other than Utkalmani
Gopabandhu Das on women’s education in Odisha. In one such article, titled
‘Nari Siksha Brudhi Paiba Kipari’(How to Improve Women’s Education), he
regretted that social traditions and customs prescribing confinement of women
to home for doing household and family work impeded the progress of women’s
education. He, therefore, advocated measures for removing such mindset to
ensure women’s access to education.
In 1913 at the
international level a great churning was taking place for giving women equal
legal rights. It is instructive to note that in 1913 when Madhubabu established
the Sailabala College, American women in thousands organised a historic march
demanding their right to vote which they eventually got in 1920. Similarly in
the UK, the suffragette movement, started by women in the late 19th century,
had become intense in 1913 inspired by the ideas of John Stuart Mill who
advocated women’s rights and demanded extension of adult suffrage for
establishing a better representative government. It is against that background
that we need to understand the pioneering role played by Madhubabu to establish
the first women’s college in Odisha in 1913.
It is all the more
significant to note that the decision of Madhubabu to establish the first ever
women’s college in Odisha in 1913 preceded the decision of Maharshi Danda
Kishore Karve to establish the first ever women’s college in erstwhile Bombay
on July 2, 1916. That college eventually became the first women’s university in
the same year following the pattern of the Tokyo Women’s University. Such
historical back-drops concerning women’s struggle for their legal rights and
progress in education bring out the revolutionary significance of Madhubabu’s
decision to establish the first ever women’s college in Odisha.
In the 21st century
world gender equality, women’s empowerment and equal status of women with men
are considered as major factors for achieving the sustainable developmental
goals and countering the ever increasing problems arising out of global warming
and climate change. British women themselves issued a manifesto in May 2007,
called Women’s Manifesto on Climate Change,1 in which they stated: “We are also
insufficiently empowered in taking action in our own homes to mitigate the
effects of climate change”, and demanded more education and information so that
they could be in a better position to deal with the menace of climate change.
Against this background if we look at the decision of Madhu-babu to establish
the Sailabala College, we gratefully acknowledge his farsighted approach in
empowering women through education in the early part of the second decade of
the twentieth century.
MADHUBABU
OPENED THE LEGAL PROFESSION TO WOMEN LAWYERS OF INDIA
In the annals of the
history for gender equality Madhusudan Das’ name will shine forever for his
exceptional struggle for allowing women law graduates to enter the law
profession in 1923. Before 1923, women were not allowed to practice law in
courts in spite of possessing valid law degrees on account of the Legal Practitioners
Act which allowed only men with graduation degree in law to practise law in
courts. When the adopted daughter of Madhu-Babu, Ms Sudhansubala Hazra,
finished her Bachelor of Law in 1921, she was asked by Madhubabu to apply to
the Patna High Court for enrolment as a pleader. The matter was taken up by the
full Bench of the Patna High Court which rejected it on November 20, 1921 on
the ground of sex disqualification. The said Court held that the legal bar
against women to do practice in law courts had to be removed by amending the
Legal Practitioners’ Act and till that was done the High Court had no power to
allow her application. She was heartbroken and shattered as her cherished
ambition to pursue the profession of law and do practice as a lawyer received a
fatal blow. She lost all hope and took a decision not to fight any more.
Madhubabu, who was at that time the Minister of Local Government, was
determined not to give it up. He drafted a memorial for her and it was sent to
the Viceroy in August 1922 seeking for amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act
for enabling lady lawyers to enroll as pleaders. A copy of the memorial was
sent to the President of the Central Legislative Assembly, Sir Fredrick Whyte,
who was then the President of the Central Legislative Assembly. In the enclosed
letter he wrote that hardly memorials affecting public interest reached the
Viceroy on account of the strength of the cause contained in it and stated that
the memorial submitted by Sudhansubala “represents the grievances of a class of
women who live in seclusion...” and “This is eminently a case in which public
naturally expect personal attention of a Viceroy who is also an eminent
lawyer.” Then he added: “Half of the population of India does not enjoy rights
of citizenship of the British Empire. This is due to custom and caste.
Government cannot abolish caste and social custom, but it is the duty of
legislatures to steer between Scylla of social custom on the one side and the
Charybdis of neutral policy of British Indian administration to the harbor of
free British citizenship.” In other words, he was stressing the point that it
was the legislature which should be proactive in taking up issues concerning
rights of women without waiting for support from the caste and custom which
hindered their progress. He also asked her to appeal to the Privy Council in
London.
Accordingly the
appeal was filed and the Secretary of State for India was made a respondent. To
the utter shock and surprise of Madhubabu, the Privy Council informed its
decision that 4000 pounds (Rs 6000) had to be deposited as fees to meet the
expenses of the affected party, that is, the Secretary of State for India. He
wrote a letter to Mr William Duke, Member of the India Office, on February 8,
1923 seeking assistance in the matter to bring down the fees to be deposited.
Inter alia he wrote: “The question relates to permission to Lady Lawyers to
practice in Courts. If there is any country and where Lady legal practitioners
are necessary, it is in India and especially in those Provinces in which the
Purdah system is stringent and Purdah ladies are often parties to suits
involving decision of rights to properties of immense value. They cannot
instruct lawyers of the other sex and consequently they become victims to the
dishonesty of unprincipled Gomastas.” On March 8, 1923 the agents of the Privy
Council sent a letter to Ms Sudhansubala informing that the matter was treated
as a public interest and, therefore, no expenses would be required to be paid.
Apart from taking those measures Madhubabu took up the matter with a Member of
the Central Assembly, Mr H.S. Gaur, and requested him to introduce a Resolution
to nullify the prohibition on women to enter the legal profession. He asked
Sudhansubala to visit Delhi and meet the President of the Central Legislative
Assembly and the then Home Member to sensitise them about the gravity of the
matter. She also sent a copy of the memorial to almost all Members of the
Assembly in August 1923 to make them aware of the importance of allowing women
to become lawyers.
Eventually the Home
Member introduced a Bill to amend the Legal Practitioners Act. The second
reading of the Bill was completed in September 1923 and no Member opposed it.
Ultimately it entered the statute book and became the law of the land
empowering qualified women to practise law in the courts of India. Ms Sudhansu
Bala enrolled herself as a lawyer on December 12, 1923 and appeared before the
Patna High Court as the junior of Madhusudan Das who had by then resigned as the
Minister of Local Government. It was because of the untiring efforts of
Madhubabu that the women lawyers in India could remove an unjust barrier
imposed against their entry into the legal profession. In the process he became
the foremost champion of women’s rights to become practicing lawyers enjoying equal
standing with men lawyers.
By Sh. Satya Narayan Sahu
Courtesy MAINSTREAM WEEKLY
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon