Kolkata: The official address of the Calcutta High Court has been formally changed following the renaming of Esplanade Row (West) as “Justice Radhabinod Pal Sarani”, according to a notification issued by the Registrar General on Thursday.
The notification, dated February 12, 2026, states that consequent upon the decision of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to rename the road, the High Court’s address will henceforth read: High Court at Calcutta, 3, Justice Radhabinod Pal Sarani, Kolkata, West Bengal, PIN – 700001. The order was issued by direction of the Chief Justice and circulated for the information of all concerned. The renaming honours Justice Radhabinod Pal, the Indian judge best known for his dissenting opinion at the post-World War II International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials. Justice Pal, who had served as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, had lived in Kolkata for several decades.
The Trinamool Congress said on X that the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court had upheld the Government of West Bengal’s decision to rename the road, describing it as a tribute to one of Bengal’s most revered jurists. The party said the move fulfilled an assurance given by its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during a visit to Japan in May 2025.
Banerjee had travelled to Tokyo as part of an all-party parliamentary delegation on India’s global outreach against terrorism. During that visit, he paid homage at Justice Pal’s memorial. According to the party, Justice Pal’s grandson had appealed for greater recognition of his grandfather in Bengal, including the naming of a road in Kolkata where he had lived for 35 years. Banerjee had assured the family that the request would be honoured.
Late Justice Pal was the only Indian representative in the International Military Tribunal of the Far East, usually referred to as the Tokyo Tribunal, that was set up to try Japanese leaders for war crimes following the country’s defeat in the Second World War.