The Hindu : Front Page : Pride of having been unprejudiced

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
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Pride of having been unprejudiced

Syed Muthahar Saqaf

IN REVERENCE: District Judge R. Ramakrishnan paying homage to former District and Sessions Judge H.O.D. Harding at his memorial in Tiruchi. — PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM

TIRUCHI: The judicial officers and the legal fraternity of Tiruchi, on Thursday, demonstrated their respect for sincerity and commitment. It was the occasion to commemorate the uprightness of late H.O.D. Harding, who was murdered for delivering an unbiased judgement by an accused on the court premises on February 22, 1916. Late Harding, hailing from London, assumed charge as the District and Sessions Judge of Tiruchi in October 1913. Upholding the dignity of the judiciary, he convicted an accused to life in a murder case. The accused later managed to get bail in the High Court. When Harding was about to get into his chariot at the court house after the day's work on February 22, 1916, the life convict appeared all of a sudden and attacked him with a deadly weapon. The judge was killed on the spot. Later the body was flown to London. A monument was erected on the court premises itself, in recognition of his yeoman service to protect the interests of the judiciary. Paying tributes to the memory of this late judicial official on his death anniversary became an annual feature.

The judges, led by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, R. Ramakrishnan, the Public Prosecutor, R. Edwin Jayakumar, and the legal fraternity, led by the secretary of the Tiruchi Bar Association, Thangadurai, placed wreaths at the memorial.

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