Former Union law minister and eminent Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani passed away on Sunday. He was 95. According to reports, he has not been keeping well for a few months. From appearing in the famous K.M. Nanavati versus State of Maharashtra case in 1959, to the multi-crore 2G scam in 2011, from being L.K. Advani's defence in the Hawala scam and appearing in the Jessica Lal murder case, Jethmalani has been part of many high-profile cases in the court of law. The case of Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, an Indian Navy officer accused of killing his wife's paramour, was a story that gripped the nation.
Most recently, he had represented Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case filed against him by the late finance minister Arun Jaitley. Jaitley had filed a civil defamation suit seeking Rs 10 crore damages from Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders—Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai—for accusing him of financial irregularities in the DDCA of which he was the president from 2000 to 2013.
Jethmalani had embarrassed the BJP by representing former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam. He said the money meant for bribing MPs during the trust vote in 2008 came from a BJP source. He had also represented the assassins of prime minister Indira Gandhi, despite his party reprimanding him for it. At a later stage in life, Jethmalani had become a critic of PM Modi. He had served as the Union law minister under the Vajpayee government in the 1999-2000 era.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday condoled his death of Ram Jethmalani, saying the country has lost an exceptional lawyer and an iconic figure who made rich contributions in courts and Parliament. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said the country has lost a great intellectual and a patriot. "Deeply saddened to learn about the demise of Shri Ram Jethmalani ... one of the brilliant minds of Bharat. In his passing away the nation has lost a distinguished jurist, a great intellectual & a patriot, who was active till his last breath," the vice president's secretariat tweeted. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also expressed grief over the demise of the eminent jurist and extended her condolences to his family and friends. "Ram Jethmalani is no more. A crusader in both law and politics he stood steadfastly for the causes he took up. His knowledge in criminal law was matched by none," senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted to offer tributes, saying, "Extremely saddened at the passing away of legendary lawyer Ram Jethmalani ji. An institution in himself, he shaped criminal law in post-independence India. His void would never be filled and his name will be written in golden words in legal history. RIP Ram sir".
Jethmalani passed away a few days before his 96th birthday on September 14. His son Mahesh said the last rites will be performed in the evening at the Lodhi road crematorium. Besides Mahesh Jethmalani, the former Union minister is survived by his daughter based in the US. His other daughter, Rani Jethmalani, died in 2011. He was born in Shikarpur in Sindh province (now in Pakistan) on September 14, 1923, and obtained a law degree at the age of 17.
