Shakir Ali (barrister)

Shakir Ali Barrister (7 June 1879 – 26 December 1962) was an Indian lawyer and politician.

Shakir Ali was born in a respectable Abbasi family of Kakori, a small town about 20 miles from Lucknow, the capital of United Provinces during British rule. His ancestors acted as Quazi during the Mughal regime.^[1]

He completed his early education from MAO Aligarh (now Aligarh Muslim University). He went to England in 1905 to join Lincoln's Inn for his degree in Law (Lincoln Inn's Library records). In 1908 he graduated and came back to India. He was appointed inspector of Schools but after some time he preferred to go into his own legal practice. He resigned the post and started to practice as a Barrister in Gorakhpur. He was one of the well known criminal lawyers of India. He had occasions to appear in some of the most important and noted cases e.g. the Meerut Conspiracy Case, the INA trials held in Red Fort Delhi, the Kakori train dacoity and Chauri Chaura arson case.

During the Quit India Movement, he joined the Congress and very soon became a force to reckon in the party, became a member in the Executive Committee of the Congress and was very popular in whole of the eastern region of India. Mr Shakir Ali was the member of the reformed Legislative Council from 1921 to 1923 (UP Assembly Archives). He was a staunch nationalist throughout his life and led the Khilafat Movement in Gorakhpur in 1920.

He retired in 1956 after practising Criminal Law for 45 years and died at the age of 84 on 26 December 1962.

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