Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, risked irritating Beijing and Seoul during a state visit to India on Thursday by paying homage to a Bengali judge revered by Japanese militarists for denouncing the legitimacy of the 1946-1948 Tokyo war crimes trials.

In a gesture to nationalists disappointed by his decision not to visit the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo last week to commemorate the end of the second world war, Mr Abe held a 20-minute meeting with the son of Justice Radhabinod Pal in Kolkata.