Ram Jethmalani

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Ram Jethmalani
Jethmalani in August 2006
Minister of Law and Justice
In office
16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byKotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy
Succeeded byRamakant Khalap
In office
June 1999 – 23 July 2000
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byM. Thambidurai
Succeeded byArun Jaitley
Minister of Urban Development
In office
19 March 1998 – 14 June 1999
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byUmmareddy Venkateswarlu
Succeeded byJagmohan
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
8 July 2016 – 8 September 2019
ConstituencyBihar
In office
5 July 2010 – 4 July 2016
ConstituencyRajasthan
In office
10 April 2006 – 26 August 2009
ConstituencyNominated
In office
3 April 1994 – 9 April 2006
ConstituencyMaharashtra
In office
3 April 1988 – 2 April 1994
ConstituencyKarnataka
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
1977–1984
Preceded byHari Ramchandra Gokhale
Succeeded bySunil Dutt
ConstituencyMumbai North-West
Personal details
Born(1923-09-14)14 September 1923
Shikarpur, Bombay Presidency, British India
(present-day Sindh, Pakistan)
Died8 September 2019(2019-09-08) (aged 95)
New Delhi, India
Political partyRashtriya Janata Dal (After 2016)
Other political
affiliations		Bharatiya Janata Party (1980–85)
Janata Dal (1989–93)
Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam (1995)
Bharatiya Janata Party (2010–2013)
Spouses
Durga Jethmalani
​
(m. 1941)​
Ratna Jethmalani
​
(m. 1947)​
Residence(s)2, Akbar Road, New Delhi, India[1]
Alma materS.C. Shahani Law College, Karachi- University of Bombay
ProfessionLawyer, Jurist, Professor of Law, Politician, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist

Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (14 September 1923 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union minister of law and justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Jethmalani obtained his LL.B. degree at the age of 17 and started practising law in his hometown, Shikarpur, until the partition of India. The partition led him to move to Mumbai as a refugee where he began his life and career afresh. He announced his retirement from judicial profession in 2017.[citation needed]

Throughout his political career, Jethmalani worked for improving the relations between India and Pakistan, owing to his experiences as a refugee post-partition. He was elected as member of the Lok Sabha twice, on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tickets, from the Mumbai North West constituency. He also served as the union minister of urban development in the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry, against whom he later contested election in the 2004 Indian general elections from the Lucknow constituency. He later returned to BJP in 2010, and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on its ticket.

Jethmalani was awarded the Human Rights Award by World Peace Through Law in 1977. He authored books such as Big Egos, Small Men; Conscience of a Maverick; and Maverick: Unchanged, Unrepentant; among others. He also co-authored legal scholarly books on different fields of law.

Personal life[edit]

Jethmalani was born on 14 September 1923 in Shikarpur, Sindh in the Sindh division of the then Bombay Presidency (today a part of Pakistan) to Boolchand Gurmukhdas Jethmalani and Parbati Boolchand.[2][3] He got a double promotion in school and completed matriculation at the age of 13. At the age of 17 he secured an LL.B. degree from the Bombay University with a first class distinction. At that time, the minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21, but a special exception (resulting from an application that he made to the court contesting the rule regarding minimum age) allowed him to become a lawyer at the age of 18.[4] He received his LL.M. from Bombay University, since Sindh did not have a university of its own at that time.[1]

Jethmalani married his first wife, Durga, in a traditional Indian arranged marriage, around the age of 18. In 1947, just before partition, he married his second wife, Ratna Shahani, a lawyer by profession. His family includes both of his wives and four children – three by Durga (Rani, Shobha, Mahesh) and one by Ratna (Janak).[4][5] Among his two sons and two daughters, Mahesh and Rani have been supreme court lawyers while Mahesh is also a BJP leader, and Rani a social activist.[6]

Jethmalani died on 8 September 2019 in New Delhi at his home at the age of 95.[2] According to his son Mahesh Jethmalani, he was unwell for the last few months and died at 7:45 am (IST), six days short of his 96th birthday.[7][8]

Career[edit]

Legal career[edit]

Ram Jethmalani started his career as a lawyer and Professor in Sindh before partition.[9] He started his own law firm in Karachi with his friend A.K. Brohi who was senior to him by seven years.[4] In February 1948, when riots broke out in Karachi, he fled to India on the advice of his friend Brohi and when he came to India in that day he had only INR 10 in his pocket and with that note he stayed in the refugee camp for few days.[9]

Jethmalani fought his first case at the age of 17 in the court of Sindh under Justice Godfrey Davis, contesting the rule regarding minimum age passed by the Bar Council of Sindh. In a talk at Algebra in June 2017, Jethmalani recounted his first case fought in India as a refugee. The newly introduced Bombay Refugees Act treated refugees in an inhumane manner, against which Jethmalani filed a case in the Bombay High Court, praying for the law to be declared unconstitutional; a case he won.[10]

Jethmalani later came to be noted for his appearance in the Nanavati case in 1959 with Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, who later to become the Chief Justice of India. His defence of a string of smugglers in the late 1960s established his image as a "smuggler’s lawyer", to which he mentioned that he was only doing his duty as a lawyer.[citation needed]

In 1954, he became a part-time Professor at the Government Law College, Mumbai for both graduate and post graduate studies. He also taught comparative law at the Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.[9] He has been the Chairman of Bar Council of India for four tenures, before as well as after the emergency. In 1996, he also became a member of the International Bar Association. He has served as the Professor Emeritus for Symbiosis International University law schools.[11][12] In 2010, he was also elected as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.[13][14]

During his career he was involved in a number of high-profile defence cases as lawyer[15] – people involved in market scams (Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh), and a host of gangsters and smugglers including the British citizen Daisy Angus who was acquitted of hashish smuggling after serving five years in jail. He also defended L. K. Advani in the Hawala scam. He was in the news for taking up the defence of Manu Sharma, prime accused in the Jessica Lall murder case; however, he failed to get Manu Sharma acquitted. He was to be defending Lalit Modi, former Indian Premier League chairman and commissioner.[16][17][18] Some of the cases Jethmalani appeared in include — the defence of Indira Gandhi's alleged assassins, challenging the medical evidence deposed of Tirath Das Dogra, a forensic expert of AIIMS, on record;[19] defending Harshad Mehta in a stock market scam and the Narasimha Rao bribery case;[20] defending Ketan Parekh in a stock market scam;[21] appearing in a case involving Mumbai mafia gang leader, Haji Mastan;[5] speaking on record against the death sentence of Afzal Guru, though he had not taken up the case;[21] defending L K Advani in the Hawala scam;[5] defending Manu Sharma in Jessica Lall's murder;[5] defending Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter case;[21] defending Amit Jogi in the Jaggi murder case;[22] appearing for Sanjay Chandra's bail in the 2G spectrum case;[23][24] appearing for Kulbhushan Parashar's bail in the navy war room leak case;[25][26] defending Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case;[5] appearing in Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's special leave petition on stay for C.B.I. probe into money laundering in his companies;[27] appearing in Yeddyurappa's case on an illegal mining scam;[28] defending A. G. Perarivalan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, and Sriharan alias Murugan, all convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case;[5] defending Ramdev in case of allaged use of force on his followers at Ramlila grounds on 4 June 2011;[29] defending Shiv Sena in Krishna Desai's murder;[30] defending Asaram Bapu in the Jodhpur sexual assault case;[31] defending Lalu Prasad Yadav in the supreme court and appearing for his bail in the fodder scam case, on 13 December 2013;[5] appearing for Subrata Roy in the Sahara-SEBI case;[32] appearing for AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, convicted in a disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court;[33] and, appearing for AAP president Arvind Kejriwal, in a defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley,[34][35] amongst others.

On 9 September 2017, he announced his retirement from the legal profession.[36]

Political career[edit]

Jethmalani's experience during the partition as a refugee led him to advocate for better relations between India and Pakistan, which he sought throughout his political career.[37] He contested as an independent candidate from Ulhasnagar supported both by the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Jan Sangh but he lost the elections.[4] During the emergency period of 1975–1977, he was the chairman of the Bar Association of India. He heavily criticised then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. An arrest warrant was issued against him from Kerala which was stayed by the Bombay high court when over three hundred lawyers, led by Nani Palkhivala, appeared for him. However, the stay was nullified by the habeas corpus judgment in Additional District Magistrate of Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla.[38] Jethmalani exiled himself in Canada carrying on his campaign against the emergency. He returned to India ten months later after the emergency was lifted. While in Canada, his candidature for the Parliament was filed from the Bombay North-West constituency. He won the election and retained the seat in 1980 general elections, but lost to Sunil Dutt in 1985. In the 1977 general elections after the emergency, he won against then serving Union law minister H. R. Gokhale from Bombay in the Lok Sabha elections, and hence started his political career as a parliamentarian.[4] However he was not made law minister himself as Morarji Desai disapproved of his lifestyle.[39]

He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1988 and the Union minister of law, justice and company affairs in 1996, in the cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the second tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in 1998, he was given the portfolio of Union minister of urban affairs and employment. But on 13 October 1999 he was again sworn in as the Union minister for law, justice and company affairs. He was asked to resign by the prime minister following differences with then chief justice of India Adarsh Sein Anand and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee. He was inducted into the cabinet on home Minister Lal Krishna Advani's insistence.[40]

He had also announced his candidature for President of India stating: "I owe it to the nation to offer my services". He launched his own political fronts, the Bharat Mukti Morcha, as a "mass movement" in 1987. In 1995, he launched his own political party called the Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam, with the motto to achieve "transparency in functioning of Indian democracy".[39]

In the general elections of 2004, he contested against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the Lucknow constituency as an independent candidate. The Indian National Congress did not field their candidates in this election; however, he lost. Later on, in 2010, he was given a Rajya Sabha ticket by Bharatiya Janta Party from Rajasthan and he was elected. He was also a member of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.[1] Jethmalani has been criticised as being "opportunistic" as a result of this.[41] Jethmalani was noted for speaking his mind;[42] at a reception hosted by the Pakistan High Commission for the Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who was on a visit to India on 28 July 2011, Jethmalani in the presence of the Chinese ambassador called China an enemy of both India and Pakistan and warned the Indians and Pakistanis to beware of the Chinese.[43]

In December 2009, the Committee on Judicial Accountability stated that it considered that recommendations for judicial appointments should only be made after a public debate, including review by members of the bar of the affected high courts. This statement was made in relation to controversy about the appointments of justices C. K. Prasad and P. D. Dinakaran. The statement was signed by Jethmalani, Shanti Bhushan, Fali Sam Nariman, Anil B. Divan, Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Bhushan.[44]

In 2012, Jethmalani wrote to then Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari, accusing opposition BJP leaders of being "silent against the huge corruption" within the ruling UPA-II government, and stated that BJP "is sick".[45] Jethmalani's letter[46] became public on the internet. The same year, in November, Jethmalani wrote a letter to BJP leader L.K. Advani asking for the removal of Nitin Gadkari as the president of the BJP.[5] He cited the allegations of corruption levelled against Gadkari as the reason for his demand.[5] He had stated "When there are serious allegations against Gadkari, he should have stayed away, if only to raise his stature in the public eye,".[5] He publicly criticised Gadkari, even though Gadkari continued to be the BJP president. When Jethmalani was questioned if the BJP's parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that had been supporting Gadkari, was controlling BJP, Jethmalani had replied "I am sure the RSS is trying to influence the functioning of the BJP. After all, BJP leaders have grown up with the RSS,".[5]

In May 2013, BJP expelled Jethmalani from the party for six years, for having made anti-party statements.[47] In October 2013, defamation charges were framed against BJP seeking ₹50 lakh (US$63,000) as "null and void and damages" for making a statement that he was not a fit person to be member of the party.[48][46]

Awards and achievements[edit]

  • International Jurist Award[49][50]
  • 1977 – Human Rights Award by World Peace Through Law[49][9]

Books[edit]

Books by Jethmalani[edit]

  • Big Egos, Small Men[51][52] (ISBN 978-8-1241-2002-6)
  • Conflict of Laws (1955)[52]
  • Conscience of a Maverick[53] (ISBN 8174765719)
  • Justice: Soviet Style[54][51]
  • Maverick: Unchanged, Unrepentant[52] (ISBN 8129133504)

Jethmalani had also co-authored various legal scholarly books on fields of law such as criminal law, administrative law, and media law.[55]

Books on Jethmalani[edit]

  • Ram Jethmalani : The Authorized Biography by Nalini Gera (ISBN 0670049360)
  • Rebel: A Biography of Ram Jethmalani by Susan Adelman (ISBN 9386495074)

In popular culture[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Members Webpage – Rajyasabha". Rajyasabha, Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Ram Jethmalani, Eminent Supreme Court Lawyer and Former Law Minister, Passes Away at 96". News18. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Top most Indian Lawyer: Sindhi Genius Of Indian Law : Ram Jethmalani". The Sindhu World. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi-times/Ram-Jethmalani-In-black-and-white/articleshow/9580860.cms Archived 4 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine Ram Jethmalani: In black and white: Times New Network, 12 May 2002.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "'I plead guilty to being a bad husband. But avatars like Ram don't do so'". The Telegraph. Kolkota.
  6. ^ Deshpande, Vinaya (1 January 2012). "Social activist Rani Jethmalani passes away". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  7. ^ Vaidyanathan, A; Bhasin, Swati (8 September 2019). "Ram Jethmalani, Veteran Lawyer And Former Union Minister, Dies At 95". NDTV. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Ram Jethmalani, eminent lawyer and former Union law minister, passes away". The Times of India. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d Das, Arun Kumar; Singh, Sanghita (12 May 2002). "Ram Jethmalani: In black and white". Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  10. ^ "Ram jethmalani's most candid interview – on Modi, BJP and his sole ambition in life at 94 (29 June 2017)". You tube – algebra channel. ALGEBRA conversations. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  11. ^ "Honorary Faculty". symlaw.edu.in. Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  12. ^ "IALS Global Law Deans' Forum and Annual Meeting". symlaw.ac.in. Symbiosis Law School, Pune. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Jethmalani new SCBA president". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  14. ^ Legally India. "Breaking: Ram Jethmalani elected as SCBA president to repair damage done". Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  15. ^ "RIP Ram Jethmalani: India's Finest Criminal Lawyer Leaves Behind Rich Legacy". India Today. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  16. ^ Sharma, Tanu (19 December 2006). "Manu Sharma convicted for Jessica murder". The Indian Express. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Lalit Modi to move court against IPL governing council meeting". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  18. ^ "The Hindu : Sena firm on opposing Jethmalani". Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  19. ^ "Dr T D Dogra's expert evidence in trial of assassination of Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India, Indian Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Year : 2009, Volume : 7, Issue : 4, First page : (134) Last page : (159), Print ISSN 0974-4487. Online ISSN 0973-1970". October 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  20. ^ "Will he walk away?". India Today. 14 June 1993. Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  21. ^ a b c "Ram Jethmalani retires: From smuggler's lawyer to anti-corruption activist, the maverick's legal career". Firstpost. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  22. ^ "राम जेठमलानी छत्तीसगढ़ के इस नेता का भी लड़ चुके हैं केस, पढि़ए उनका सफरनामा". patrika.com (in Hindi). Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  23. ^ Shantanu Guha Ray (2 September 2011). "Loss due to allotment of 2G is zero to the exchequer: TRAI tells CBI". India Today. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  24. ^ "Sanjay Chandra v. Central Bureau of Investigation". Supreme Court Cases. 1: 40. 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  25. ^ "Vijendra Rana vs Central Bureau of Investigation on 11 May, 2012". indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  26. ^ "Vijendra Rana v. Central Bureau of Investigation". SCC OnLine del: 2785. 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  27. ^ "SC quashes Jagan's plea against his arrest in assets case". India Today. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  28. ^ "- News18". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  29. ^ A Vaidyanathan (21 November 2011). "Couldn't police wait till morning for crackdown? Supreme Court on Ramdev camp". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  30. ^ Gupta, Dipankar (30 November 1999). "Why no one dared to mess with Shiv Sena?". India Today. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  31. ^ "Asaram Bapu case: teen has disease 'which draws a woman to a man', says Ram Jethmalani". NDTV.com. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  32. ^ Pani, Priyanka. "Did Sahara lawyers get their way finally?". businessline. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  33. ^ Legal Correspondent (28 September 2014). "Jethmalani to appear for Jayalalithaa". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  34. ^ India Today Web Desk New. "Ram Jethmalani sends Rs 2 crore bill to Arvind Kejriwal, quits as Delhi CM's counsel". India Today.
  35. ^ India Today Web Desk (26 July 2017). "Kejriwal: Ram Jethmalani quits as Arvind Kejriwal's counsel, seeks Rs 2 crore fee". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  36. ^ Hindu, The. "Report of Shri Ram Jethmalani's retirement". Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  37. ^ Rajagopal, Krishnadas (8 September 2019). "Ram Jethmalani, 'unchanged and unrepentant maverick'". The Hindu. New Delhi. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  38. ^ "(Additional District Magistrate of Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla)". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  39. ^ a b [1] Devil?s advocate: Jethmalani
  40. ^ "The Wrath of Ram: India Today". Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  41. ^ "Karan Thapar Ram Jethmalani – Latest part 2". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  42. ^ "Ram Jethmalani". Archived from the original on 1 July 2012.
  43. ^ Roy, Shubhajit (28 July 2011). "China your enemy: Jethmalani walks all over Paki's red carpet". The Indian Express. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  44. ^ Venkatesan, J. (20 December 2009). "Promotions should be transparent: judicial accountability panel". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  45. ^ "Jethmalani writes to Gadkari, says BJP is sick", Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 26 May 2012 Archived 28 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  46. ^ a b "Jethmalani Letter". Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via Scribd.
  47. ^ "Ram Jethmalani expelled from BJP for anti-party remarks". NDTV. 28 May 2013. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  48. ^ "Jethmalani seeks Rs. 50 lakh in damages from BJP". The Hindu. 31 October 2013. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  49. ^ a b "RIP Ram Jethmalani: India's criminal law doyen leaves behind rich legacy". India Today. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  50. ^ "Mr. Jethmalani received International Jurist Award from Prime Minister of India on December 13th". ramjethmalani.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  51. ^ a b "Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Ram Jethmalani Detailed Profile". Government of India. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  52. ^ a b c Adnal, Madhuri (8 September 2019). "Ram Jethmalani's complete family tree explained". One India. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  53. ^ [2] Archived 17 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Ram Jethmalani – 87 not out : The Hindu
  54. ^ Lok Sabha. "7th Lok Sabha – Members Bioprofile". Loksabha, India. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  55. ^ "Ram Jethmalani, Wadhwa Books Company". wadhwabooks.in. Wadhwa Books Company.
  56. ^ "Reel Vs Real: Sucheta Dalal, Ram Jethmalani - who played whom in 'Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story'". Free Press Journal. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  57. ^ Magan, Srishti (17 October 2020). "Real Vs. Reel: Characters In 'Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story' & Their Real-Life Counterparts". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 11 April 2021.

External links[edit]

Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Mumbai North West
1977–1984 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Law and Justice
16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U. Venkateswarlu
As
Minister of State
(Independent Charge)
 Ministry of Urban Affairs & Employment
19 March 1998 – 14 June 1999 		Succeeded by
Jagmohan
Ministry renamed as Ministry of Urban Development
Preceded by Minister of Law and Justice
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