Shyamji Krishna Varma reinstated more than a century after disbarment

The Inner Temple has announced the reinstatement of Shyamji Krishna Varma as a member having been peremptorily disbarred in 1909 for conduct unbecoming a barrister.

Born in 1857, Varma was a scholar and prominent Indian nationalist who was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He established India House in Highgate, London, as a base for Indian students studying in England and was the founder of the Indian Home Rule Society.

The lawyer published several articles critical of British rule in India in the magazine the Indian Sociologist, which he also founded.

Varma was disbarred in 1909 for conduct unbecoming of a barrister following the publication of a letter in The Times, in which he protested the right of his countrymen to free themselves from British rule. He also insisted on his right to erect a memorial to those whom he described as Indian martyrs within India House.

At a meeting on 9 November 2015 the benchers of the Inner Temple decided that Varma should be reinstated as a member of the Inn in recognition of the fact that the cause of Indian home rule, for which he fought, was not incompatible with membership of the Bar and that by modern standards he did not receive a fair hearing.

The reinstatement is also intended as a mark of the Inn's commitment to the principle of free speech, which it says remains as important as ever to the establishment of a free society.

Varma is not the only celebrated Indian lawyer to have been barred by the Inner Temple.

In 1988 the Inn reinstated another of its famous members, Mahatma Gandhi, whom it had also disbarred as a result of his political activities in support of Indian independence.

The Inn said it hoped the latest reinstatement would further strengthen its existing links with its many Indian members both at home and abroad.

The announcement from the Inner Temple coincides with a state visit from the prime minister of India. In October, Narendra Modi paid tribute to Varma on his 158th birthday.

'On his birth anniversary, I salute Shyamji Krishna Varma, the great patriot and inspiration for many nationalists,' he said.

Varma died on 30 March 1930 in Geneva. His ashes were brought back to India from Switzerland in 2003 by Modi.

The justice minister Shailesh Vara said: 'I am delighted that Shyamji KrishnaVarma has been posthumously reinstated to the Bar. He was from the Indian state of Gujarat, and as Britain’s first Gujarati Minister, and a lawyer myself, I am particularly pleased at his reinstatement.

'My team and I have worked closely with the Inner Temple, and it is fitting that we can make this presentation as part of Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit to Britain.'