TheBesant v. Narayaniah Case is a suite filed by Jiddu Narayaniah, father ofJ. Krishnamurti in 1912 againsttheosophistAnnie Besant for the custody of his son. The case argued for Narayaniah byC. P. Ramaswami Iyer was won by him and was acause célèbre of the time though Besant later appealed to thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom and got a ruling in her favour. Besant and C.P. Ramaswami Iyer who were in opposing camps during the trial eventually became friends after the case got over and jointly participated in theHome Rule Movement.
J. Krishnamurti belonged to aNiyogi Brahmin family fromChittoor district of the thenMadras Presidency. In 1907, Krishnamurti's father Narayaniah settled down inMadras and was offered a job at the headquarters of theTheosophical Society inAdyar. He brought his sons Krishnamurti and Nityananda with him.
In July 1909, the theosophistCharles Webster Leadbeater chanced upon Krishnamurti on the banks of theAdyar River and allegedly noticed signs of greatness in him. Convinced that Krishnamurti was destined to be a prophet, Leadbeater induced the Theosophical Society to adopt Krishnamurti and his younger brother Nityananda. Narayaniah was given a nominal compensation. Krishnamurti, eventually, came under the custody of Annie Besant who tutored him.
Not satisfied with the terms of the settlement, Narayaniah sued Annie Besant and the Theosophical Society. The case was first brought to the Chingleput District Court whose sitting judge referred the case to theMadras High Court. Narayaniah's brief was argued by C. P. Ramaswami Iyer who later served asAdvocate-General of Madras Presidency, cabinet minister andDiwan ofTravancore. He was assisted by his juniors N. Chandrasekhara Iyer andM. Subbaraya Aiyar. Annie Besant did not solicit any lawyer and argued the case on her own.
Public opinion was strong in support of Narayaniah as many felt that he had been robbed of his sons. Among the prominent men who supported Narayaniah wereS. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, editor ofThe Hindu and retired judgeS. Subramania Iyer. The case was eventually won by C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. On April 15, 1913, Judge Bakewell ordered Besant to hand over custody of the two young boys to their father.
Besant approached the Privy Council which ordered a retrial. On 29 October 1913, after a hearing, judgeC. A. White directed that the boys be handed over to her.[1] The Brahmin leaders who had opposed Besant sided with her and supported her during the Home Rule movement. This alliance alienated other communities and was vehemently criticized by the media arm of the newly formedJustice Party. S. Subramania Iyer, however, refused to compromise with Besant and ridiculed the Society's projection of J. Krishnamurti as a messiah until his death in 1924.
By the time case went to Privy Council, children grew up. So it gave option to children to choose where to stay. JK wanted to stay with Besant. But Privy Council held that father’s rights over children are unalienable and not subject to any agreement.