Badruddin Tyabji

JUSTICE BADRUDDIN TYABJI

Date of Birth: 8^th October, 1844 and Date of Death: 19^th August, 1906

            Justice Badruddin Tyabji was born on 8^th October, 1844 in Kambe, Maharashtra.  He was from such a family from where its three generations participated in the Indian Independence Movement.  His father was Tayyab Ali and mother Amina Tyabji.  Tayyab Ali, who had built his own business empire of both domestic and foreign trade, gave English education to his children.  Badruddin learned Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Gujarati, Marathi and a little English at a young age.  He married Moti Begum in 1865.  Tyabji went to London to study Bar-at-Law.  He returned to India and set up legal practice in Bombay and became one of the highly paid Barristers of the day in Bombay.  Along with his friends Feroz Shah Mehta and Kasinath Telang, he started an agitation for the welfare of the people in 1871.  The three friends were famously known and called as the ‘Three Stars’.  He became a Corporator of Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1873 and later became a Member in the Bombay Legislative Council.  He opposed the discriminating policies of the British.  As a one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress in December, 1885, he dedicated himself to the cause of India’s Freedom.  He played a vital role in the Indian National Congress and was influential in its policy making.  He also refuted the arguments of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Syed Amir Ali and Nawab Abdul Latif who had tried to wean the Muslims away from the Indian National Congress.  Justice Badruddin Tyabji presided over the third session of the Indian National Congress in 1887 at Madras.  He worked hard to strengthen the Indian National Congress until he became the Justice in the Bombay High Court in 1895.  He sought socio-economic, educational reforms for the development of Muslims.  He firmly believed that modern education was essential for girls not only for their development but also for the development of Muslim community as a whole.  Hence he established several social service and educational institutions.  He became the Acting Chief Justice of Bombay High Court in 1902, later became the full-fledged Chief Justice in 1906.  He was the first Indian to have served the nation as a jurist and a nationalist.  Justice Badruddin Tyabji, who was treated ‘first as an Indian, next a Muslim and finally a universal human being’, died on 19^th August, 1906 in England.