Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/152

 Bombay Government delayed the execution of the decree on executive grounds and the estate was received by Jagannath Maharaj from the Court of Wards as late as Feb. 1917.

We have already seen, how Mr. Aston, by his obstinate persistence in importing irrelevant matter in the hearing of Tai Maharaj's application for revocation of the Probate, had succeeded in inflicting an amount of men- tal torture upon Mr. Tilak and in prolonging unnecessarily the proceedings by a few years. Had Mr. Aston resisted the temptation of going into the question of adoption and trying to find matter for which Mr. Tilak could be criminally taken to task, the case would not have assumed these disproportionate dimensions. It would seem that the lesson of Mr. Aston was lost upon Mr. Justice Chandavarkar, who imported into his judgment the criminal proceedings against Mr. Tilak. The rebuke of the Privy Council on this point is severe:—

"Their Lordships have viewed with surprise the charge which is made not only against the trustees but against the whole body of the Plaintiff's witnesses. Mr. Justice Chandavarkar in his judgment states * we are driven to believe that a considerable number of men of good position have conspired together to give false evidence.' The conclusion thus is of the most serious character amounting to a plain judicial finding of conspiracy and perjury. Their Lordships {however) do not think that one ivord of it is justified by the evidence in the case. Referring to Messrs. Tilak and Khaparde, Mr, Justice Chandavarkar observes that: 'They were men of mature years, of exceptional education and mental