The Echoes of
Greatness

Justice Nasirullah Beg (left) with Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, former President of India, during the Allahabad High Court centenary celebrations, 1966

In the annals of India's legal and constitutional history, few families have left as profound and enduring a mark as the Beg family. From the pre-Independence era to the most turbulent decades of the modern republic, this lineage of jurists stood at the forefront of defining and defending the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the sanctity of the Constitution. Their story is one of monumental courage, intellectual brilliance, and an unwavering commitment to justice — a legacy that continues to echo through the generations.

This tribute honours the male ancestors of the world-renowned beauty entrepreneur, Shahnaz Husain: her grandfather, Mirza Samiullah Beg; her father, Justice Nasirullah Beg; and her uncle, Chief Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg. Their lives and careers were dedicated to the service of justice, and their contributions have become foundational pillars of Indian democracy.

Chapter I

Mirza Samiullah Beg

The Patriarch of a Legal Dynasty

"

My father came from a family of legal luminaries. His father, Mirza Samiullah Beg, was the Chief Justice of Hyderabad and the Governor of Nagpur during the pre-Independence days... My grandfather was very patriotic and was involved in the freedom movement.

— Shahnaz Husain, The Punch Magazine

Born into an aristocratic Deccani Muslim family in Lucknow, Mirza Samiullah Beg was a towering figure of his era. He served as the Chief Justice of Hyderabad State — one of the most powerful princely states in India — and later as the Governor of Nagpur, demonstrating both his judicial acumen and his administrative capabilities. He was not merely a judicial officer but a deeply patriotic figure, actively involved in the Indian freedom movement at a time when such involvement carried great personal risk.

His home in Hyderabad was a hub of intellectual and political activity. Pandit Motilal Nehru, the patriarch of the Nehru dynasty and a leading figure in the Indian National Congress, was a close personal friend who frequently stayed at Mirza Samiullah Beg's residence whenever he visited Hyderabad. This friendship exposed the young Beg brothers to the forefront of India's anti-colonial struggle and embedded in them a synthesis of traditional Indian heritage, progressive liberal ideals, and a deep reverence for the law.

Recognising the importance of a world-class legal education, Mirza Samiullah Beg sent both his sons — Nasirullah and Hameedullah — to study at Cambridge University and Oxford University in England, where they were called to the Bar as Barristers. This exposure to the British common law system, the Magna Carta, and the historical struggles for civil liberties, juxtaposed against the harsh realities of a colonised India striving for a written constitution, uniquely positioned the brothers to navigate the extreme complexities of newly independent India's legal landscape. They returned not merely as legal practitioners, but as scholars deeply versed in constitutional theory, equity, and jurisprudence.

Chapter II

Justice Nasirullah Beg

The Guardian of Judicial Independence

Justice Nasirullah Beg (N.U. Beg) ascended to the bench of the Allahabad High Court — the largest and one of the most prestigious judicial institutions in India, established by the Letters Patent of Queen Victoria in 1866. Before his elevation, he distinguished himself as an advocate of exceptional calibre, serving as the Chief Standing Counsel and Government Advocate for the State of Uttar Pradesh during the critical, formative years of the republic.

Defending the Zamindari Abolition Act

One of the most significant moments of Nasirullah Beg's career as an advocate occurred during the intense litigation surrounding the agrarian reforms of the early 1950s. The U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 represented a monumental socio-economic shift — aimed at dismantling the centuries-old, exploitative feudal intermediary system, redistributing land, and empowering the peasantry. Unsurprisingly, this radical legislation was immediately challenged by the entrenched Zamindar and Taluqdar classes.

Appearing before a formidable five-judge Full Bench, Nasirullah Beg, in his capacity as Chief Standing Counsel, appeared alongside the legendary Attorney General of India, M.C. Setalvad, to fiercely defend the Act. The Allahabad High Court's ultimate decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Zamindari Abolition Act was a watershed moment in Indian legal history — an early, crucial judicial recognition that the Indian Constitution was an instrument of social revolution, designed to facilitate a progressive, egalitarian society.

The Keshav Singh Case: India's Greatest Constitutional Crisis

The doctrine of the separation of powers and the operational independence of the judiciary in India faced its most severe, existential threat in March 1964. The conflict, originating in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, pitted the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly against the Higher Judiciary in a direct, unprecedented institutional confrontation. At the very centre of this storm was Justice Nasirullah Beg, whose unwavering commitment to the constitutional writ of Habeas Corpus ignited a national constitutional crisis that fundamentally redefined the limits of legislative privilege.

The catalyst was a citizen named Keshav Singh, a political worker affiliated with the opposition Socialist Party, who had distributed a pamphlet containing allegations of corruption against a ruling Congress MLA. The U.P. Legislative Assembly sentenced him to seven days' imprisonment for contempt of the House. On the sixth day of his imprisonment, his advocate filed a Habeas Corpus petition before the Lucknow Bench.

The petition was placed before a Division Bench comprising Justice Nasirullah Beg and Justice G.D. Sahgal. Faced with a citizen claiming unlawful deprivation of personal liberty, and with no opposition presented by the State, the two judges passed an interim order directing that Keshav Singh be released on bail. It was a lawful, principled exercise of their constitutional jurisdiction — and it set the institutions of the state on a collision course.

The reaction of the U.P. Legislative Assembly was swift, furious, and entirely unprecedented. On 21 March 1964, the Assembly passed a staggering resolution declaring that Keshav Singh, Advocate B. Solomon, and the two sitting High Court Judges had all committed gross contempt of the House. The Speaker issued formal warrants for the arrest of Justice Beg and Justice Sahgal, commanding the Marshal to take them into custody and produce them as prisoners before the Assembly.

"

If a political majority in the legislature could simply arrest judges for passing judicial orders in the discharge of their duties, the judiciary would be rendered entirely subservient, and the separation of powers would become a dead letter.

In a profound, historic display of judicial solidarity, the Allahabad High Court took a step unparalleled in judicial history. On 23 March 1964, a massive Full Bench comprising 28 judges convened to hear the petitions filed by their besieged colleagues. To contextualise the magnitude of this event, this remains the largest bench ever constituted to hear a case in the entire history of the Indian judiciary, vastly surpassing even the famous 13-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati. The 28-judge bench immediately stayed the Assembly's arrest warrants.

The Presidential Reference & the Triumph of Constitutional Supremacy

Recognising that the machinery of the State was on the absolute brink of constitutional collapse, the President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, exercised his extraordinary powers under Article 143(1) of the Constitution, referring the entire dispute to the Supreme Court. A seven-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar, undertook the monumental task of resolving the conflict.

The Supreme Court decisively rejected the Assembly's claim of absolute sovereignty. Its ruling was profound and far-reaching:

"

Justice Nasirullah Beg's initial, fearless refusal to bow to legislative intimidation forced the Supreme Court to definitively lay down the law: the Legislature cannot be the sole, unquestioned judge in its own cause when a citizen's liberty is at stake, and the independent judiciary remains the ultimate, final arbiter of constitutional interpretation in India.

The Allahabad High Court Centenary, 1966

Justice Nasirullah Beg's judicial acumen and seniority led to his appointment as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in 1966. His tenure coincided with a monumental historical milestone: the centenary celebrations of the Court. As Chairman of the centenary celebration committee, Chief Justice Beg conceptualised and mounted a grand exhibition of judicial records, ancient Persian firmans from Mughal emperors, and photographs of landmark judgments. This exhibition was subsequently converted into a permanent Law Museum and Archives within the High Court premises, preserving the institutional memory for future generations.

In his stirring centenary welcome address, delivered in the august presence of the President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, and the Chief Justice of India, K. Subba Rao, Chief Justice Beg articulated a profound vision of the judiciary — positioning the courts not merely as sterile mechanisms for dispute resolution, but as the ultimate guardians of democratic values, the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of the citizenry against arbitrary state action.

Chapter III

Chief Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg

Architect of the Separation of Powers at the Apex

While Justice Nasirullah Beg heroically defended the operational independence of the judiciary at the state level, his brother, Mirza Hameedullah Beg, shaped the highest theoretical contours of the separation of powers at the apex level of the Indian legal system. Born in 1913 in Lucknow, M.H. Beg was educated at St. George's Grammar School, Trinity College, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics. He was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1941.

His distinguished judicial trajectory saw him serve as a Judge of the Allahabad High Court from 1963, the very first Chief Justice of the newly formed Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1971, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of India from December 1971, eventually ascending to the highest judicial office in the land as the 15th Chief Justice of India in January 1977. He was later awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour, in 1988.

Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975)

Striking Down the 39th Amendment

The theoretical frameworks of constitutional law were aggressively tested in 1975 when the Allahabad High Court invalidated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's election for corrupt electoral practices. In response, Parliament passed the 39th Constitutional Amendment, which retroactively validated the voided election and stripped the courts of jurisdiction over disputes involving the Prime Minister and Speaker.

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, including Justice M.H. Beg, unanimously struck down the amendment as unconstitutional. Justice Beg's concurring opinion was a brilliant masterclass in the application of the separation of powers. He articulated his landmark "essential functions" theory:

"

By striking down the 39th Amendment, Justice M.H. Beg and the Bench successfully operationalised the Basic Structure Doctrine, proving definitively that the Supreme Court could and would strike down constitutional amendments that irreparably damaged the separation of powers — thus preserving the Republic during its darkest hour.

Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973)

The Basic Structure Doctrine

In this seminal case, an unprecedented 13-judge bench of the Supreme Court was convened to determine whether Parliament's power to amend the Constitution was unlimited. Following 68 days of gruelling arguments, the Court delivered a razor-thin 7:6 majority decision establishing the Basic Structure Doctrine — that Parliament cannot alter, destroy, or abrogate the essential framework of the Constitution.

Justice M.H. Beg authored a highly detailed, scholarly opinion in this case. Crucially, he emphasised that the separation of powers and the supremacy of the Constitution are indeed basic, unalterable features. His core argument hinged on institutional competence: judicial powers are explicitly and exclusively vested in the Supreme Court and the High Courts by the text of the Constitution. Parliament, even when exercising its highest constituent power, cannot usurp or perform essential judicial functions.

Epilogue

A Daughter's Tribute

Reading Father: Life After Life

"

Everyone has a god on earth they worship. I worshipped my father. I worshipped the ground he walked on. Whatever I am today and whatever I will be or achieve in the future, I owe it all to his blind faith in my capabilities. He always said, 'I want you to be the kind of person the world will look up to and want to emulate.'

— Shahnaz Husain

For Shahnaz Husain, Justice Nasirullah Beg was not only a constitutional hero but the guiding light of her life. In her deeply personal essay "Reading Father: Life After Life", published in The Punch Magazine, she paints a portrait of a man whose influence extended far beyond the courtroom — into the hearts and minds of his children.

She recalls how her father kindled in her a love for poetry and English literature. Every morning, while he shaved before going to court, young Shahnaz would sit behind him on a stool in his dressing room and recite the previous night's poetry. He would write a new word in his diary each day, teach her its meaning, and make her memorise it. One of her most precious memories is of the time when her family was the guest of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at Teen Murti House. She was only ten years old. Panditji asked her to recite something, and she recited 52 verses from The Life and Death of Abraham Lincoln. Nehru's remark to her father was: "You have a genius in the family. Educate her. Do not get her married early!"

"

There is no such thing as destiny, you can make your own destiny, you can be, what you will yourself to be.

— Justice Nasirullah Beg, to his daughter Shahnaz

It was from her father that Shahnaz borrowed Rs 35,000 to start her first herbal clinic in the verandah of her home — the seed that would grow into a worldwide empire. When she returned with diplomas from five countries and the world at her feet, her father's response was not celebration but gentle wisdom: "You have done so much for this world, where you have a temporary existence. In the permanent world, for your life after death, you have done nothing." This counsel led her to establish Shamute, a free beauty training school for underprivileged women, and Shasight for the visually impaired — philanthropic work that remains the nerve centre of her entrepreneurial success.

His views on religion were profoundly secular. He would tell his children: "I don't believe in religion per se. All religions are good. There is only one God. All of us are pilgrims, moving towards one spiritual power and that is God. By which name you call Him does not matter." When a school's mother superior asked him to send a Maulana to teach his daughters Islam, he smiled and said: "Since my children know no religion, can you please teach them yours?"

"

Adversity does not shake my faith in God. I never question it. The trials and tribulations of life should not shake our faith, but make it stronger.

— Justice Nasirullah Beg

The Unbroken Chain of Justice

The story of the Beg family is a testament to the enduring power of principle, courage, and an unwavering commitment to justice. From Mirza Samiullah Beg's patriotic vision and his friendship with the architects of Indian independence, to Justice Nasirullah Beg's fearless stand for judicial independence that forced the Supreme Court to definitively establish the supremacy of the Constitution, to Chief Justice M.H. Beg's intellectual contributions that operationalised the Basic Structure Doctrine and the separation of powers — their collective legacy is woven into the very fabric of the Indian republic.

They were men who not only interpreted the law but who also embodied its highest ideals. Whether it was risking physical arrest to protect a single citizen's liberty, or striking down an oppressive constitutional amendment designed to protect a powerful Prime Minister, their actions consistently reinforced a singular, non-negotiable principle: the absolute supremacy of the Constitution.

Their judgments continue to serve as the ultimate benchmark for constitutional accountability, ensuring that in the delicate balance of democratic governance, the rule of law ultimately, unequivocally prevails over the caprice of political majorities and executive might. The echoes of their greatness continue to inspire — a reminder that the sacred duty to uphold justice belongs to every generation.