who was manockjee cowasjee entee?
talking about the time of colonial india in the nineteenth century
Answers
Manockjee Cowsjee Entee was a assessor in Criminal Court at Surat. He is well renowned for “Shoe respect controversy” during 19th century. It was during the Governor Generalship of Lord Dalhousie “Shoe Respect” was made stricter. At that time a rule related to Shoe respect was made by British. As they were aware that Indians remove their shoes when they enter sacred places like temples or their homes. Britishers insisted that Indians wearing their traditional attire must remove their shoes while entering any government office. Indians wearing western clothes were allowed not to follow this rule.
This discriminatory rule made a lot of Indian government officials uneasy. Indians argued that since they sit on ground in their homes the dirt in shoes can cause contamination hence they remove them outside. As temples are sacred places they it is not proper to contaminate them with their shoe dirt. But government offices do not fall under that category; hence it is not required to remove shoes outside them. In 1862 a Judge denied entry to Manockjee inside court without removing his shoes. Manokjee protested against this and wrote a letter to the Governor of Bombay. It was only years later that the rule came to be change.