Becoming Indian

Abstract

William Broome was the last British judge to remain in judicial service in India, and the only one to have been appointed to a High Court after independence. Despite having come to India as an officer of the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Broome remained in India after independence, marrying an Indian woman, raising his children as Hindus and taking Indian citizenship in 1958. As a judge of the Allahabad High Court, Broome adopted an expansive interpretation of fundamental rights under the Constitution of India and played a pivotal role in the case of Raj Narain v. Indira Gandhi. The article examines Broome’s defiance of British racial attitudes during the Raj, his career as a judge in independent India and his significance in Indian history, including his ties to Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. This article argues that the lives and service of British judges in independent India, including William Broome, exemplify continuity between the colonial justice system and the judiciary of independent India.