Ram Boolchand Jethmalani best embodied the imagery of the combative lawyer, much before the term gained coinage. A diminutive personality, a free-talking agent not encumbered by reputations of either high office or the strength of the opposition, Jethmalani — Ram to his friends — made his mark in political India when dissent was not very common. In the heyday of the Congress raj, disagreement was never too loud; if it came, it was low key. Jethmalani changed all that. He had a point of view and did not hesitate to express it, vocally and without restraint. He challenged the Congress, not caring a fig for the consequences. During the Emergency, he was chairman of the Bar Association of India where he openly criticised Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. An arrest warrant was issued against him from Kerala, but it was stayed by the Bombay High Court when over 300 lawyers, led by Nani Palkivala, appeared for him.
However, Jethmalani exiled himself to Canada, carrying on his campaign against the Congress regime. His return to India — after the Emergency was lifted — was the start of a full-fledged political career. He won a Lok Sabha seat from Bombay in 1980, but lost five years later. He became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1988 and then Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs in 1996 in Prime Minister Vajpayee’s first term. During Vajpayee’s second tenure, he was Union Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998, only to get back Law Ministry the next year. But Jethmalani’s metier was law, not politics. More than any other lawyer, he came to acquire the reputation of taking up cases that even other well-established names in the legal fraternity stayed away from.
The number of high profile and ‘unpopular’ cases, which he chose to defend during the course of a colourful and charismatic career, is legion. His clients came in all shapes and sizes — scamsters, gangsters, smugglers, anti-social elements, even anti-nationals — underlining his forte as a criminal lawyer without parallel. Sample some of his most celebrated cases. From defending LK Advani in the hawala scam to Lalit Modi, former IPL Chairman; from backing one of Indira Gandhi’s alleged assassin, Balbir Singh, and challenging the medical evidence given by TD Dogra on Indira Gandhi, which later won Balbir’s acquittal; to pleading for Rajiv Gandhi’s killers in 2011 — his range and histrionics in court knew no limit.
Jethmalani defended Harshad Mehta in the stock market scam, pleaded for underworld don Haji Mastan, and argued against death sentence for Afzal Guru. He defended Amit Shah, then Gujarat’s home minister in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, organised Kanimozhi’s defence in the 2G spectrum case, stepped in for Yediurappa in the illegal mining case and defended Asaram Bapu’s in the Jodhpur sexual assault case. Jethmalani — who first made his appearance in court aged 17 in undivided Sindh — will be remembered, above all, for never saying no to a person in legal need.
