New Delhi: ‘Lion of the bar’, ‘a lawyer par excellence’, ‘great raconteur’ and ‘a legend who always stood tall’ — this is how colleagues, peers and well-wishers remembered senior advocate Ashok Desai, 87, who died Monday. The cause of his death couldn’t be known.
As the news of his demise spread, several lawyers recalled the different roles he had donned over the years.
Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde called him “an exemplar of a dying breed of gentleman lawyer, who may have won or lost a case, but never lost a friend”.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising recalled that Desai stopped making regular appearances in courts due to his illness and that he used to be seen in the courts only when appearing in pro bono cases.
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His education
A follower of the tenets of Buddhism, Desai had joined the Government Law College in 1950, with present stalwarts of the profession — Fali Nariman, Anil Divan, Murlidhar Bhandare and Soli Sorabjee — keeping him company there.
During a 2017 interview, Desai recollected holding mock Parliaments, with Nariman or Divan being the Speaker, Sorabjee acting as the Prime Minister and Desai the Leader of the Opposition.
“We played out Shakespeare as well. The trial scene of Merchant of Venice was enacted and I played the role of Antonio… I had just a few lines but had to stand virtually like an exhibit waiting to yield the pound of flesh! I was rather thin those days!” Desai was quoted as saying.
After completing his law, Desai attended the London School of Economics and Political Science, and was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn, London, after that. Desai was also part of the Harvard International Seminar in 1967.
He began practising in Bombay High Court in 1956 and was designated as a senior advocate two decades later in August 1977. Since then, he assumed several prominent positions, including that of the Attorney General of India from July 1996 to May 1998.
He also worked as the legal correspondent for The Times of India from 1963 to 1969. He was a professor of law in Law College, Bombay, and a lecturer in law at the Bombay College of Journalism.
He was part of several notable cases
Out of his over six-decade career, Desai spent 12 years on the Salwa Judum case, where the Supreme Court declared illegal and unconstitutional the deployment of tribal youths as Special Police Officers either as ‘Koya Commandos’, Salwa Judum or any other force in the alleged fight against the Maoist insurgency.
He also appeared pro-bono for LGBTQ+ groups and their supporters in the Supreme Court for decriminalisation of same sex relations under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
He impassionately elucidated his arguments in the case, asserting that the law “created utter chaos”. He also argued that homosexuality was not alien to Indian cultural traditions, making a reference to a transgender character in the epic Mahabharata.
In 1972, it was Desai who came to the rescue of playwright Vijay Tendulkar’s contentious Marathi play Sakharam Binder, which faced a ban on grounds of obscenity.
His advocacy led to the striking down of pre-censorship of dramatic performances, earning him respect and a character modelled on him in a Marathi play titled Sex Morality and Sakharam Binder two years later.
He was a part of several other notable cases too, including the Vineet Narain case (on powers of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission case), the Narmada Dam case, and the Narasimha Rao case (on parliamentary privileges).
Recognising his contribution to the legal field, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Law Luminary Award in 2001. He was also awarded a Degree of Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) in “recognition of his contribution to the field of law and jurisprudence” by the North Orissa University in September 2009.
This report has been updated to reflect the correct age of former attorney general Ashok Desai.
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Ashokbhai was 87 when he passed away.
Condolence to the family of the Late Mr. Ashok Desai.
Read this article. There seem to be material errors . He passed away at the age of 77 years (born 1942).
He join law college 1950 (he would be 8 years old then) and began his law practice in 1956 (he would be 14 years old then).
Please check the facts and update this write-up.