New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Veteran Supreme Court lawyer and Politician Ram Jethmalani died at the age of 95 in Delhi on Sunday. One of the country's most eminent lawyers, Jethmalani represented some of the biggest political leaders in over a dozen criminal cases.
Born in Shikarpur in Sindh, Jethmalani obtained LLB degree at the age of 17. After graduating, he started practising in his hometown. Following India's partition, he moved to Mumbai as a refugee and started his life afresh.
Jethmalani came to spotlight with his appearance in KM Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra case in 1959. In the 1960s he defended a string of smugglers and it established his image as smuggler lawyer.
His high profile cases include appearance for defence in the Indira Gandhi assassination case, Ketan Parekh case, Jayalalitha's defence in disproportionate assets case, Kanimozhi's defence in 2G scam trial, Manu Sharma's defence in Jessica Lall case, defence of Afzal Guru in parliament attack case, Subrato Roy's defence in Sahara-SEBI case, Baba Ramdev's defence in 2011 Ramlila ground incident case.
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He has also defended L K Advani in Hawala Scam, a political and financial scandal involving payments allegedly sent by politicians through Hawala brokers. Besides this, Jethmalani defended Amit Shah's defence in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, in which 22 accused were acquitted by a special CBI court in 2005. he defended Shiv Sena in CPI MLA Krishna Desai murder case.
Others include BSY Yediyurappa's case on illegal mining, Asaram's defence in Jodhpur sexual assault case, Lalu Prasad Yadav in Fodder scam and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in defamation case filed by late Arun Jaitley.
In 2010, he was elected as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association. On September 9, 2017, he announced retirement from his decades-long career profession.
From his early schooldays, Jethmalani was a brilliant student getting double promotion and completing matriculation at the age of 13. He went on to secure an LLB degree from Bombay University at the age of 17. He started practising at the age of 18 when the minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21. He also received his LL.M. from Bombay University.
He was a part-time professor at Government Law College, Mumbai in 1954. He has also taught Law at Wayne State University in the US.
On the political spectrum, he became a member of parliament in sixth and seventh Lok Sabha on BJP ticket from Mumbai. He has served as Law Minister of India and Minister of Urban Development during PM Atal Bihari's regime.
Jethmalani is survived by his son, Mahesh Jethmalani, and a US-based daughter. He was married to Durga at age above 18 and has three children. In 1947, he got married again to Ratna Shahani with whom he has one son.