Lawyer Anis Suhrawardy passes away

Well-known lawyer Anis Suhrawardy, 54, passed away on Tuesday, January 24, due to a massive cardiac arrest.

Son of prominent writer Saeed Suhrawardy and son-in-law of a distinguished politician and senior advocate, late Bashir Ahmed, Anis practiced law with a missionary zeal.

Known as a Supreme Court lawyer, just a few hours before breathing his last, he argued vehemently at Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to secure relief for a poor carpenter. Legally, he is remembered for playing a major role in helping several lakh civilian workers -- including retrenched railway employees -- secure their livelihood.

Some of the prominent cases and issues Anis fought for were linked with the Sri Krishna Commission (1993 Bombay riots) and Munna Bhalloo (1998) - which became a flagship for cases linked with development of Forest Law;

He represented 10,000 lawyers in a Delhi Bar Association Case and succeeded in preventing entry of foreign lawyers in the Indian courts.

Anis saved 2,93,000 “casual labourers” of Indian Railways from Mass Scale Retrenchment (1982-84), because of which more than 10 lakh workers across the country benefited.

In addition to these achievements, he fought cases on behalf of contract labourers, beedi workers, rickshaw pullers, hutment dwellers, footpath vendors, tehbazaris, mobile booking clerks, katputli dance performers, street artists, madaris, saperas and many others.

 
Anis, an advocate-on-record since 1987, served as Standing Counsel for State of Jammu & Kashmir for around a decade.

As a secular Muslim, apart from taking up legal disputes involving Indians of all religions and communities, he also boldly fought on behalf of minorities. The latter includes his being a spokesperson and lawyer for prominent organisations, including Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. In the interest of Indian secularism and to check communal forces, Anis was legally involved in pursuing cases linked with Babri Masjid demolition, Malegaon bomb-blast case, Akshadharm-Gujarat case, Best Bakery (Gujarat) case and many others for which he gained national as well international recognition and appreciation.

After graduating from St Stephen’s (Delhi), Anis completed LLB from University of Delhi.

Anis is survived by his parents, wife Shamama (a practicing lawyer), son-Atif – a lawyer, daughter-Nauras, who is studying law and two sisters – Nilofar, a journalist and Tasneem a professor at St Stephen’s.

He is remembered by his admirers, professional colleagues, clients, former teachers and friends hailing from different walks of life and religious communities as a great secular and generous person. By espousing causes of broad sections of masses in various fields, Anis created for himself an image which has very few parallels.

Anis is no more, but his secular as well as philanthropic ideals and vision live on.