Know About Legal Luminaries & Eminent Jurists – Ram Jethmalani

By Aman Prakash|Updated : October 21st, 2021

Ram Jethmalani was born on 14 September 1923. He remained an Indian lawyer and politician. He worked as India's Union Minister of Law and Justice, Chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and also served as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association. He was famous in the Indian legal fraternity for his forte in criminal law and high-profile civil cases.

Early Life & Political Career

  • Jethmalani attained his degree at the age of 17 and began practicing law in Shikarpur which happened to be his hometown until the partition of India.

  • The partition steered him to move to Mumbai as a refugee where he began his life and career afresh. He announced his retirement from the practicing law in 2017.

  • During his political career, Jethmalani toiled for improving the relations between India and Pakistan, owing to his experiences as a refugee post-partition.

  • He was chosen as a Member of the Lok Sabha twice, on Bhartiya Janata Party (B.J.P.) tickets, from the constituency of Mumbai North-West.

  • He served as the Union Minister of Urban Development in the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry, in opposition to whom he later contested election in the 2004 Indian general elections from the Lucknow constituency.

  • He later returned to B.J.P. in 2010 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on its ticket.

Notable Cases

  • During his career, he involved himself in several high-profile defence cases as the lawyer who were the people involved in market scams (Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh).

  • In the Hawala Scam, he defended L.K. Advani.

  • He took up the defence of Manu Sharma who was 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 (IPL) chairman and commissioner.

  • Some of the cases Jethmalani appeared in include the defence of Indira Gandhi's alleged assassins, contesting the medical evidence on record.

  • He happened to appear in a case involving Mumbai mafia gang leader, Haji Mastan.

  • He spoke on record against the death sentence of Afzal Guru.

  • He defended Amit Shahin the Sohrabuddin encounter.

  • He defended Amit Jogi in the Jaggi murder case.

  • He defended Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case and appeared in  S. Jaganmohan Reddy's special leave petition on stay for C.B.I. Probe keen on money laundering in his companies.

  • He appeared in Yeddyurappa's case on an illegal mining scam.

  • He defended  G. Perarivalan, Sriharan alias Murugan and T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, all sentenced in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

  • He defended Ramdev in case of alleged use of force on his followers at Ramlila grounds on 4 June 2011.

  • He defended Asaram Bapu in the Jodhpur sexual assault case.

  • He defended Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Supreme Court and appearing for his bail in the fodder scam case, on 13 December 2013.

  • He appeared for Subrata Roy in the Sahara-SEBI case.

  • He appeared for AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa who was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court. 

Positions Held

  • In 1998, he took charge as a Member of the Rajya Sabha and the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in 1996, in the cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

  • In 1998, during the second tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was given the portfolio of Union minister of urban affairs and employment.

  • On 13 October 1999, he was once again sworn in as the Union minister for law, justice and company affairs.

  • He resigned following differences with then chief justice of India Adarsh Sein Anand and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee.

Books Authored, Awards and Honours

  • In 1997, the organization 'World Peace' awarded Jethmalani the Human Rights Award Through Law.

  • He wrote books such as Big Egos, Small MenConscience of a Maverick, and Maverick: Unchanged, Unrepentant amongst others.

  • He co-authored several legal scholarly books on different fields of law.

Retirement & Death

  • On 9 September 2017, spoke of his retirement from the legal profession.

  • Jethmalani deceased on 8 September 2019 in New Delhi at his residence.

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