OLD COURT OF PETTY SESSIONS, FORT
In the 1820s, Mumbai's judicial system had a simple racial hierarchy: Europeans held the positions of power. Only white men could serve as Justices of the Peace or sit on the Grand Jury and Petty Sessions, leaving Indians judged by European officials even in local cases.
Nana decided to challenge the arrangement. Beginning in 1826, he spent six years campaigning to break the monopoly. He drafted petitions, mobilized local leaders and lobbied the British Parliament directly through trade contacts like Sir Charles Forbes.
Breaking the Judicial Monopoly: His persistence broke the colonial glass ceiling. In 1828, Indians were granted the right to sit on the Grand Jury. In 1834, the British Parliament yielded further, appointing the first 13 Indian Justices of the Peace, with Nana's name at the very top of the list.
And he did not stop there. He subsequently became the first Indian Magistrate to preside over the Petty Sessions Court.
What began as a campaign to get Indians into a jury room eventually put Nana himself on the other side of the bench.
The system had opened a door, and Nana walked through it.