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HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY
RAIPUR, (CHHATTISGARH)
RAM JETHMALANI





TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......3
2. INTRODUCTION: LIFE SKETCH.. 4
3. OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY5
4. HIS EARLY LIFE..6
5. JETHMALANI : AS A LAWYER....6
6. JETHMALANIS 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 Jethmalanis image as a 'smugglers 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.


JETHMALANIS 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 19751977, 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 JETHMALANI
Ram 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
RAM JETHMALANI





Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's special leave petition on stay for CBI probe on money
laundering in his companies.
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) shouldnt 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.













RAM JETHMALANI