41 Facts About Ram Jethmalani

Ram Boolchand Jethmalani was an Indian lawyer and politician.

Ram Jethmalani served as India's Union minister of law and justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Ram Jethmalani was noted in the Indian legal fraternity for his forte in criminal law and high-profile civil cases.

Ram Jethmalani announced his retirement from judicial profession in 2017.

Ram Jethmalani was elected as member of the Lok Sabha twice, on Bharatiya Janata Party tickets, from the Mumbai North West constituency.

Ram Jethmalani served as the union minister of urban development in the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry, against whom he later contested election in the 2004 Indian general elections from the Lucknow constituency.

Ram Jethmalani later returned to BJP in 2010, and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on its ticket.

Ram Jethmalani was awarded the Human Rights Award by World Peace Through Law in 1977.

Ram Jethmalani authored books such as Big Egos, Small Men; Conscience of a Maverick; and Maverick: Unchanged, Unrepentant; among others.

Ram Jethmalani co-authored legal scholarly books on different fields of law.

Ram Jethmalani was born on 14 September 1923 in Shikarpur, Sindh in the Sindh division of the then Bombay Presidency to Boolchand Gurmukhdas Ram Jethmalani and Parbati Boolchand.

Ram Jethmalani got a double promotion in school and completed matriculation at the age of 13.

Ram Jethmalani married his first wife, Durga, in a traditional Indian arranged marriage, around the age of 18.

Ram Jethmalani died on 8 September 2019 in New Delhi at his home at the age of 95.

Ram Jethmalani started his career as a lawyer and Professor in Sindh before partition.

Ram Jethmalani fought his first case at the age of 17 in the court of Sindh under Justice Godfrey Davis, contesting the rule regarding minimum age passed by the Bar Council of Sindh.

The newly introduced Bombay Refugees Act treated refugees in an inhumane manner, against which Ram Jethmalani filed a case in the Bombay High Court, praying for the law to be declared unconstitutional; a case he won.

Ram Jethmalani later came to be noted for his appearance in the Nanavati case in 1959 with Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, who later to become the Chief Justice of India.

Ram Jethmalani taught comparative law at the Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Ram Jethmalani has been the Chairman of Bar Council of India for four tenures, before as well as after the emergency.

Ram Jethmalani has served as the Professor Emeritus for Symbiosis International University law schools.

Ram Jethmalani defended L K Advani in the Hawala scam.

Ram Jethmalani 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.

Ram Jethmalani was to be defending Lalit Modi, former Indian Premier League chairman and commissioner.

Ram Jethmalani heavily criticised then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.

Ram Jethmalani exiled himself in Canada carrying on his campaign against the emergency.

Ram Jethmalani returned to India ten months later after the emergency was lifted.

Ram Jethmalani won the election and retained the seat in 1980 general elections, but lost to Sunil Dutt in 1985.

Ram Jethmalani became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1988 and the Union minister of law, justice and company affairs in 1996, in the cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Ram Jethmalani was asked to resign by the prime minister following differences with then chief justice of India Adarsh Sein Anand and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee.

Ram Jethmalani was inducted into the cabinet on home Minister Lal Krishna Advani's insistence.

Ram Jethmalani had announced his candidature for President of India stating: "I owe it to the nation to offer my services".

Ram Jethmalani launched his own political fronts, the Bharat Mukti Morcha, as a "mass movement" in 1987.

Ram Jethmalani was a member of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.

Ram Jethmalani has been criticised as being "opportunistic" as a result of this.

Ram Jethmalani was noted for speaking his mind; at a reception hosted by the Pakistan High Commission for the Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who was on a visit to India on 28 July 2011, 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 of the Chinese.

In 2012, Ram Jethmalani wrote to then Bhartiya Janata Party 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".

Ram Jethmalani cited the allegations of corruption levelled against Gadkari as the reason for his demand.

Ram Jethmalani had stated "When there are serious allegations against Gadkari, he should have stayed away, if only to raise his stature in the public eye,".

Ram Jethmalani publicly criticised Gadkari, even though Gadkari continued to be the BJP president.

Ram Jethmalani had co-authored various legal scholarly books on fields of law such as criminal law, administrative law, and media law.