English Rendering of the Speech delivered in Russian

By Mr. V. I. Terevilov,
Deputy Chairman, Supreme Court, U. S. S. R., on November 27, 1966
Respected Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen-

First and foremost allow me to express our gratitude to Chief Justice Beg and his colleagues who have kindly invited us here. We do not treat this assembly as a mere meeting of the people belonging to the profession of law. We consider it as one more step towards the strengthening of our mutual ties, our mutual understanding and our respective culture, because an acquaintance between Judges and lawyers of the two nations is an effective means of knowing the great people of these countries. In your great Indian epic, in your Vedas, there is a reference to the concept of liberation. I think the expression of this hoary voice is true even today as referring to liberation from prejudices. No doubt it helps in understanding our problems. It promotes and strengthens our relations. But personal contacts are extremely important in this respect; and we are happy to find that we are personally present at this' function. On this occasion not only are present Indian representatives but representatives of other countries as well. Soviet lawyers, like-Soviet people, are friendly to the people of India and their great country. We were extremely happy when you gained your independence and we shared your grief when you lost your great sons, Gandhi and Rabindra Nath Tagore and, last of all, Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the outstanding leaders of the world. We feel extremely happy and share your joys when we see your achievements in the development of your national economy; and, of course, we are with you in your misfortunes. We appreciate the efforts of lawyers of this country and their achievements in the strengthening of the rule of law. Such understanding can only exist between real friends. The lawyers of our respective countries are occupying responsible positions in national life. I suppose the first visit of your lawyers to our country was in 1955. The delegation was headed by a very well-known lawyer, Sri Fakhr-Uddin Ali Ahmad, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. In 1958, we had the honour to receive in our country another delegation of Indian lawyers, headed by Shri Ashok Kumar Sen, who was the Minister of Law at the time. Together with him was an Advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Mr. N. C. Chatterjee. In 1960, Delhi was visited by a delegation of Soviet Judges, headed by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the U. S. S. R., Alexendar Gorkin. About a year ago, the Soviet Union was again visited by a prominent delegation of India. It was headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, Mr. Gajendragadkar. With him were certain outstanding Indian lawyers, such as Mr. M. C. Setalvad, the most prominent and respected lawyer of India and also a very charming man who, soon after visiting our country, was appointed Attorney-General of India. Only recently, Mr. Justice S. S. Dhavan returned from Soviet Union, where he was our guest. Today, we can vouch that all these meetings which had taken place in the past were extremely useful and interesting. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in all the legal problems we have common views. We should have in future as many discussions and discourses as are possible on such topics. The important thing for us is not our differences in the systems of Government and administration of Justice, but what is common between us, what is uniting us. What is common to both our nations are striving for peace and struggle against war, striving for democracy and struggle against violence, striving to serve our people and struggle against any form of dependence and slavery. These common ideals brought us here to your Centenary Celebrations in your holy city. We came to know that at the time of the inauguration of this august function, your President had observed that it is necessary to respect the rule of law. So, first of all we have to respect the rule of law in relations between various nations. We share this point of view completely. We know that your High Court is one of the oldest and biggest in your country. We came to know that in this Court started the activities of the greatest son of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose name is so dear to the Soviet people. I think to guide and serve such a big court in the vast territories of your State it is necessary for the Chief Justice to be a man of great understanding and legal acumen, able to guide such a large body of the lawyers of this State, and you have such a man in our respected host, Mr. Nasirullah Beg. We are congratulating you, dear Mr. Beg, and all your colleagues and all your lawyers on the completion of a century of your High Court. We should like to present in this function our humble gift to the High Court of Allahabad. This sculpture is the facsimile of one of the early monuments in our Moscow. It symbolises the striving of our people for the dignity of labour and peace in the world. We have made an inscription thereon. We do not know about the material value of this present. We are only thinking of the symbol and sentiment contained herein. We ask you, Mr. Chairman, to receive this our humble present and to consider it as a mark of respect for the lawyers and Judges of this Court.

(Mr. Terevilov then presented the facsimile to the Hon'ble Mr. Nasirullah Beg, Chief Justice.

Accepting the above Souvenir, the Chief Justice said: -

"On behalf of the High Court I wish to convey our feelings of gratitude to the Deputy-Chairman of the Soviet Supreme Court for kindly making this present to us. This Souvenir shall always be preserved and treasured by us as a token of their affection and goodwill."--Ed.)