A PROJECT ON

RAM JETHMALANIRAM JETHMALANI

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SSUBMITTEDUBMITTED TOTO: M: MRSRS. A. ALKALKA M MEHTAEHTA

FFACULTYACULTY, , ENGLISHENGLISH

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SSUBMITTEDUBMITTED BYBY: AKASH BHATT: AKASH BHATT

RROLLOLL N NOO.: 13.: 13

SSEMESTEREMESTER: II; B: II; BATCHATCH: : XIIIXIII

DDATEATE: 25: 25/2/2014/2/2014

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

RAIPUR, (CHHATTISGARH)

RAM JETHMALANI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………….....…….3

2. INTRODUCTION: LIFE SKETCH…………………………………..

4

3. OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………5

4. HIS EARLY LIFE……………………………………………………..6

5. JETHMALANI : AS A LAWYER…………………………………....6

6. JETHMALANI’S CAREER AS A POLITICIAN…………………....8

7. CONTROVERSIES AND JETHMALANI……….…………………12

8. AWARDS AND ACHIEVMENT..…………………………………...14

9. BOOKS………………………………….…………………………....14

10. CONCLUSION……………………………………………..………..15

RAM JETHMALANI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am highly elated to carry out my research this topic, ‘Ram Jethmalani. I would like to

give my deepest regard to my course teacher Mrs Alka Mehta, who held me with his

immense advice, direction and valuable assistance, which enabled me to march ahead

with this topic. I thank my parents, who gave me moral and mental support. I would

like to thank my friends, who gave me their precious time for guidance and helped me

a lot in completing my project by giving their helpful suggestion and assistance. I

would like thanks to my seniors for their valuable support. I would also like to thank

the library staff and computer lab staff of my university for their valuable support and

kind cooperation

AKASH BHATT

Batch XIII; Sem. II

RAM JETHMALANI

INTRODUCTION: LIFE SKETCH

Ram Jethmalani (Full name: Ram Boolchand Jethmalani, born 14 September 1923) is an

Indian lawyer and politician. He has served as India's Union Law Minister and as

Chairman of Bar Association. He has represented a sweep of cases from the high-profile to

the controversial for which he has often faced severe criticism. He is the highest paid

Indian lawyer.

Ram Jethmalani is known as a maverick lawyer with many distinctions to his credit. He

obtained a law degree at an early age of 17 and started practising law in his hometown (in

today's Pakistan) until the partition of India. He married Durga Jethmalani and later, his

second wife, Ratna Jethmalani. The partition led him to move to Mumbai as a refugee and

he began his life afresh with his family. He has two sons and two daughters, of whom,

Mahesh Jethmalani and Rani Jethmalani are also well known lawyers.

He was elected a member of parliament in 6th and 7th Lok Sabha on a Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) ticket from Mumbai. He has served as Law Minister of India and also as

Minister of Urban Development during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

against whom he later on contested election in General Elections of 2004 from Lucknow

constituency. However in 2010 he came back to BJP and was elected to Rajya Sabha on its

ticket from Rajasthan. He has also been criticised as being opportunistic because of this.

He is a well known face amongst the legal community in India. Even though he is

primarily known as only a criminal lawyer, he has appeared in many high-profile cases. On

7 May 2010 he was elected to be the president of Supreme Court Bar Association.

RAM JETHMALANI

OBJECTIVES

To briefly discuss the life sketch of Ram Jethmalani.

To briefly discuss the personality of Ram Jethmalani.

To discuss the career of Ram Jethmalani as a lawyer.

To discuss his contribution in the field of law and politics.

To discuss some of the controversies related with him.

To discuss about his awards and his achievements.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This research work is analytical and descriptive in nature. Secondary sources of

information have been used to gather the information.

Books, e-articles and websites as suggested by our faculty member have been explored to

aquire the information.

All the above mentioned sources of information have helped in giving the work a concrete

structure.

RAM JETHMALANI

HIS EARLY LIFE

Ram Jethmalani was born in Shikarpur in Sindh, modern Pakistan in the family of

Boolchand Gurmukhdas Jethmalani and Parbati Boolchand. He got a double promotion in

school and completed matriculation at the age of 13. He secured an LLB degree at the

young age of 17 from Government Law College at Mumbai (GLC) . At that time, the

minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21, but a special resolution allowed him to

become a lawyer at 18. He received his L.L.M. from S.C. Shahani Law College, Karachi .

[1]

Ram Jethmalani was married at an age of little above 18, to Durga, in a traditional Indian

arranged marriage. In 1947, just before partition, he also married Ratna Shahani, a lawyer

by profession.His family today includes both wives and four children – three by Durga

(Rani, Shobha, Mahesh) and one by Ratna (Janak)

JETHMALANI : AS A LAWYER

Ram Jethmalani started his career as a professor in Pakistan before partition.[8] He started

his own law firm in Karachi with his friend A.K. Brohi who was senior to him by six years.

In February 1948, when the riots broke out in Karachi, he fled to India on the advice of his

friend Brohi who later turned to be the Law Minister of Pakistan.

Ram Jethmalani first came to spot light with his appearance in the famous K. M. Nanavati

vs. State of Maharashtra case in 1959 with Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, later to become

Chief Justice of India. His later defence of a string of smugglers in the late 1960s

established Jethmalani’s image as a 'smuggler’s lawyer'. Even back then, he would point

out that he was only doing his duty as a lawyer.

In 1953, 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 International

Law at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.He has also been the Chairman of Bar

RAM JETHMALANI

Council of India for four tenures both before and after the emergency. He was also a

member of International Bar Association 1996.

In 2013, he is representing Asaram as a defense lawyer because he states that an innocent

person is being defamed by irresponsible and paid media channels. Ram Jethmalani started

his career as a lecturer in a Pakistani educational institution, before the partition. Then he

started his own law firm with a friend, A.K. Brohi. A few years later when the political

insurrections began in Karachi, him and his family took refuge in India. Like several other

people, he started a new life in Bombay and continued to practice Law.

In 1953, he became a visiting lecturer at a Government Law College in Mumbai. Here, he

taught undergraduate and postgraduate students. Ram extended his training to Comparative

Law at the Wayne State University in Detroit.

It was not until 1959 that he became a well-known face. In the same year that he appeared

in the famed case, K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra along with another lawyer,

Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud. In the 1960's, Jethmalani appeared as a defense lawyer for

a series of smugglers. This had a negative outcome on his public image and earned him the

title of 'a smuggler's lawyer'.

His unruffled demure and astute sense of judgment set him apart from the rest of the

attorneys in the country. Ram Jethmalani has previously served as the Chairman of the Bar

Council of India for four terms before and after the Indian Emergency. Besides this, he has

also been a member of International Bar Association in 1996.

In 1971, this famous lawyer entered the world of politics by standing as an independent

candidate, under the guidance and support of the ShivSena and Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

Despite his influential backing, he lost the elections. Thereafter, the period of Indian

Emergency began, where Ram held the position of Chairperson of the Bar Association of

India.

RAM JETHMALANI

Ram Jethmalani was said to have disparaged Indira Gandhi for which an arrest warrant was

issued. But the case was nullified as he won the overwhelming support of 300 other

lawyers. His decision of being present as the defense council for the smuggler Haji Mastan

brought him first fame and the case of Kehar Singh [the man behind the assassination of

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi] has made him front page news of almost all the newspapers

for many days.

JETHMALANI’S CAREER AS A POLITICIAN

In 1971, Ram Jethmalani contested as an independent candidate from Ulhasnagar

supported both by the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Jan Sangh but he lost the elections. During

the Emergency period of 1975–1977, he was the chairman of the Bar Association of India.

He heavily criticized the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. An arrest warrant

was issued against him from Kerala. It was stayed by the Bombay High Court when over

300 lawyers led by Nani Palkhivala appeared for him. However the stay was nullified by

the famous Habeas Corpus judgment (Additional District Magistrate of Jabalpur v. Shiv

Kant Shukla) and Ram Jethmalani exiled himself in Canada carrying on his campaign

against the Emergency. He returned 10 months later after Emergency was lifted. While in

Canada, his candidature was filed from Bombay North-West constituency. He won the

election and retained the seat in 1980 General Elections, but lost to Sunil Dutt of the Indian

National Congress in 1985. In the 1977 general elections after the Emergency, he ousted

the serving Law Minister H.R. Gokhale from Bombay in the Lok Sabha Elections and

hence started his political career as a Parliamentarian. However he was not made law

minister himself as Morarji Desai disapproved of his lifestyle.

He became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1988. He became The Union Minister of Law,

Justice and Company Affairs in 1996 in the Government of India led by Atal Bihari

Vajpayee. During the second tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was given the portfolio of

Union Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998. But on 13 October 1999 he was

again sworn in as the Union Minister for Law, Justice & Company Affairs. However he

RAM JETHMALANI

was asked to resign by the Prime Minister following differences with the then Chief Justice

of India Adarsh Sein Anand and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee. It is believed that

Jethmalani never enjoyed the confidence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was

inducted into the Cabinet on Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani's insistence.

He had also announced his candidature for President of India stating "I owe it to the nation

to offer my services" and launched his own political fronts, the Bharat Mukti Morcha,

launched as a 'mass movement' in 1987 and in 1995 he launched his own political party

called Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam, with a motto to achieve "Transparency in functioning

of Indian Democracy."

In the General Elections of 2004, he contested against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the

Lucknow constituency as an independent candidate. 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 selected. Currently he is

also a member of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.[1]

Ram Jethmalani is a person who is known to speak his mind. Recently at a reception

hoisted by the Pakistan High Commission for the Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani

Khar who was on a visit to India on 28 July 2011, the former Law Minister and Rajya

Sabha MP Ram 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[11] of

the Chinese.

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 Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhushan, Fali Sam

Nariman, Anil B. Divan, Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Bhushan.[12] In the following

years, he became a Parliamentarian and initiated his political movement called Bharat

Mukti Morcha in 1987. The next year, he became a Rajya Sabha member and in 1996, the

Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs that was led by Atal Bihari

Vajpayee. Jethmalani also launched his own party called Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam.

RAM JETHMALANI

During the then Prime Minister's tenure, Jethmalani was appointed as the Union Minister

of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998 and Union Minister for Law, Justice &

Company Affairs in 1999 for a brief period. He also proclaimed his contention for the

President of India.

In 2004, he contested for general elections and lost by a fair number. 6 years later, he got a

pass into the Rajya Sabha of Rajasthan by the Bharatiya Janta Party. His wisdom and

understanding of law and constitution is such high that when in 1980's constitution of

newly formed Bhartiya Janta Party was written he was involved in it with Sunder Singh

Bhandari & Sikandar Bakhat. In the field of politics he had crossed many mile stones

including the office of law ministry at centre. [Union Minister Of Law, Justice and

Company Affairs 1996]. Some of famous incident from his term in the Atal Bihari

Vajpayee government at center in the ministerial capacity are still corner talk in the

meetings of BJP leaders.

When he become Minister for Urban Development, DDA [Delhi Development Authority]

was facing several court cases related with the allotments of flats and was paying very

heavily in the form of fees to lawyers. Jethmalani took the DDA officials to these colonies

asked about the availability of electricity and water, without which no one will go there for

living. He forced the system to work for the welfare of common citizen and save the

money and time. He was also in the headlines of news papers and other media for asking

daily ten question to Rajiv Gandhi.

Ram Jethmalani as a person is famous for his hilarious (laughter) moods, even being

engaged with one of highly protocol restricted and since profession related with court

room, he always stress for and never missed a lighter moment of life. In the political arena

of country many hilarious incidents created by him are recalled from time to to time.

Expulsion from the party

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".[13] Jethmalani's letter became

public on the internet, and in May 2013, BJP expelled Jethmalani from the party for 6

years, for having made anti-party statements. In October 2013, defamation charges were

RAM JETHMALANI

framed against BJP seeking INR50 lakh (US$80,000) as "null and void and damages" for

making a statement that he was not a fit person to be member of the party.

CONTROVERSIES AND JETHMALANIRam Jethmalani has often been surrounded by controversies.

Defence of high-profile cases

He has a number of high-profile defence cases to his credit as a lawyer (citation)., 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 5 years in jail. He has also defended death sentence of Afzal Guru

a Pakistani convicted for 2001 Indian Parliament attack. He also defended L.K Advani in

Hawala Scam. Recently 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 is now going to be defending Lalit Modi – former IPL Chairman and

Commissioner.

Defence of Rajiv Gandhi's killers in Madras High Court in year 2011.

Defence of Indira Gandhi's killers, and challenged the medical evidence (PMR)

given by T D Dogra on Indira Gandhi.[20]

Harshad Mehta's defence in stock market scam

Ketan Parekh's defence in stock market scam

Underworld don Haji Mastan

Defended death sentence of Afzal Guru (Jethmalani in his interview with Rajat

Sharma in August 2013 said that he never took up the case of Afzal Guru)

L K Advani's defence in Hawala Scam

Amit Shah's (Gujarat's former Minister of State for Home) defence in

Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

Amit Jogi's defence (son of Ajit Jogi) in the case of Ramavatar Jaggi murder.

Kanimozhi's defence in Spectrum 2G case

Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's special leave petition on stay for CBI probe on money

laundering in his companies.

RAM JETHMALANI

Yeddyurappa's case on illegal mining scam

A. G. Perarivalan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and Sriharan alias Murugan –

convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

.Ramdev's defence on use of force on the followers of Baba Ramdev at Ramlila

gounds on 4 June 2011

Shiv Sena's defence in CPI MLA Krishna Desai murder case

Asaram Bapu's defence in Jodhpur sexual assault case .

Lalu Prasad Yadav's defence in The Supreme Court of India bail was convicted in

the fodder scam case case on 13/12/2013

However Ram Jethmalani is of the opinion that he is someone who thinks independently,

who has not mortgaged his soul or intelligence to anybody. He says "I decide according to

my conscience who to defend. A lawyer who refuses to defend a person on the grounds

that people believe him to be guilty is himself guilty of professional misconduct."

After he joined Bharatiya Janta Party in 2010, when he was asked why he had defended

Afzal Guru against his death sentence when his party was in support of it, he replied that

he had meant "that such indoctrinated elements (like Afzal) shouldn’t be allowed to die

easily, but they should made to rot in jails."[9] (Jethmalani in his interview with Rajat

Sharma in August 2013 said that he never took up the case of Daud Ibrahim [23])

Controversy during his ministerial term

Therak on the Srikrishna Commission report. This was interpreted as evidence of the

judiciary's exasperation with the law minister.

RAM JETHMALANI

Awards and Achievements

1. International Jurist Award[24]

2. World Peace Through Law Award

3. In 1977 he received Human Rights Award instituted by World Peace Through Law for

his fight against authoritarianism at Philippines.[8]

Books

Biography: Ram Jethmalani : The Authorized Biography by Nalini Gera

In April 2007 at the time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released one of his books titled

Conscience of a Maverick.[25]

Big Egos, Small Men, Har Anand Publications.

Conflict of Laws, 1956

Justice Soviet Style[26]

RAM JETHMALANI

CONCLUSION

Ram Jethmalani is said to be lawyer of criminals but it is one aspect of his life [Profession]

the other aspect of his life will reflect from the Human Rights Award which was awarded

to him in the year 1977.

He is young of 90 years, who still is naughty and eager to share experiences with girl

friends and found enough enthusiasm to talk and discuss the topic even with young modern

boy. Ram Jethmalani also belongs to selective class of writers, not only his many articles

are published in Indian Express and Illustrated weekly and other law journals but his two

book on law are also published. This doesn't conclude the portrait of works and

achievements of honorable Shri Ram Jethmalani. Today it is said that he is the number one

criminal lawyer of the country. Many adjectives say hot temper, witty, hilarious, Amazing,

interesting, ever young etc. of English dictionary and most controversial Indian Politicians.