Text: Indrani Roy Mitra in Kolkata | Photographs: Uttam Ghosh

Prasanta Pal could not believe his ears when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Parliament on Wednesday, August 22, that he looked forward to meeting 'the son of Radhabinod Pal.'

Justice Radhabinod Pal, Prasanta Pal's father, was the lone Indian judge at the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo convened to try Japanese leaders after World War II.

The judge had acquitted Abe's grandfather Kishi Nobusuke, who became Japan's prime minister in 1957.

"The Japanese prime minister held my hand for some time when I met him at the Hyatt Regency," Prasanta Pal told rediff.com after the meeting.

"There was a language barrier, but our emotions were so strong that it overcame all barriers," he continued. "Abe said he was moved by a documentary on my father which was screened recently in Tokyo. It was then that he expressed his wish to meet me."

Image: Prasanta Pal looks at a photograph of his father

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