A young man from a well-off Parsi family acquired his Bachelor's degree in Economics, but instead of a sense of achievement, he felt only dissatisfaction. In retrospect, he would have preferred to study literature or philosophy. The 20 year old had lost his father the year before, and he found himself alone at the crossroads as he thought about what to do with the rest of his life. Perhaps it is a fitting co-incidence, then, that Soli Jehangeer Sorabjee chose to enter the profession of law in the same year that the Constitution of India first came into effect. Sorbajee's relationship with the law was destined to be a life-long affair and bring him many laurels. The man who didn't quite like the ways of commerce and business and rejected the services because there was no scope for individuality, found an immediate affinity with the legal profession. The first lawyer in the family, he says he had no Godfather in the profession though many people advised him along the way. Soli Sorabjee was admitted to the Bar in 1953 and from the very beginning, he found himself absorbed in questions of human rights. As he says, "The constitution was being drafted at the time and we had a chapter on fundamental rights. And they were not just words on a paper, because you could actually go to court and ask for vindication of fundamental rights for the people when they were infringed. That definitely influenced me." It was an exciting time to be a lawyer, as many of the greatest minds in the country —Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, B R Ambedkar (to name a few) — had their roots in the profession. Like many students at the time, it was unlikely that Sorabjee would be untouched by current events. However, he shrugs off his involvement in his characteristic understated manner. "My only contribution was when Gandhiji was having a meeting at the time of the Quit India movement. The police came and broke up the meeting. I didn't go to jail or anything; just got a baton on my shoulder and went running away." Sorabjee's battles would be fought in a different arena — the court rooms.
NO ORDINARY LIFE
It was an era when names like Nanabhoy 'Nani' Palkhiwala, Homi Bhabha and Bhulabhai Desai commanded respect and recognition. He joined the chambers of respected lawyer Sir Jamshedji Kanga and counted Palkhiwala and Bhabha among his seniors. A gold medallist in college, he did not have quite the dream start to his career that he had hoped for. "I was supposed to ask for an adjournment on my first case. It was a simple matter — and the court didn't give it! It wasn't really of great material impact and no harm came of it, but I was most downcast," he laughs as he remembers that day. True to form, though, the incident only spurred him on to strive harder and "never get too disappointed." That was a lesson well learnt and Sorabjee had little to be disappointed about as he went on to become one of the finest legal brains in the country. A little over 20 years after he first started, he was appointed Solicitor General of India. In 1998, he became the Attorney General of the country, a post he would hold till 2004. He was presented with the Padma Vibhushan in 2002 for his defence of the freedom of expression and protection of human rights. Over almost 60 years of representing the State and in private practice, Soli Sorabjee has left an indelible mark on Indian jurisprudence. As Attorney General during the government of Prime Minister VP Singh, he tackled Union Carbide after the Bhopal gas tragedy. The government of India sued the company and agreed to a settlement for the victims (who numbered in the tens of thousands). However, one of the clauses gave Union Carbide officials immunity from prosecution for actions of the past and the future. Sorabjee successfully overturned these "absurd" clauses which "could not be sustained constitutionally". In private practice, too, he kept the banner of the "rule of law" flying high. A case he remembers with relish is the now famous S.R. Bommai vs Union of India in 1989, which dealt with the imposition of President's rule (under Article 356 of the constitution) in an Indian state. Sorabjee successfully defended Bommai and the case set the benchmark for all future dealings between the Centre and states regarding the imposition of President's rule. In another instance — and one for which all international travellers can thank Sorabjee — he successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to hold that in a matter concerning the fundamental right of a person to travel abroad, the total absence of any law would result in arbitrariness and would violate the principle of the Rule of Law. After the judgement, the Passport Act 1967 was enacted to regulate the grant and refusal of passports. Even today, he justifiably considers this case to be a feather in his cap.
Everyman's Advocate
These are just glimpses at a list of achievements that would fill the pages of a rather thick book. No matter at what post and which case he worked on, Sorabjee's belief in equality before the law shines through. So what happened in instances where his personal beliefs clashed with his brief, especially when he was Attorney General? "I would have returned the brief. If the case involved arguing against those principles that I believed in and which would go against the constitution, then I wouldn't do it. Even when asked to be amicus curiae (someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter) by the Supreme Court, it's not that I would take an anti government stand or pro-government stand. I would simply tell the court what the correct position in law is, according to my understanding." The victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 also found a champion in the diminutive lawyer, who was part of the Citizens Justice Committee that voluntarily represented many of them free of charge. For Soli Sorabjee his involvement with the cause boils down to one simple fact – his sense of injustice. "What really motivated us all was the fact that we didn't like the persecution of any minority group and in that case it happened to be the Sikhs," says the man who rues the fact that poor police investigations and insufficient evidence resulted in many of the cases dragging on for years.
Censuring Censorship
Apart from his spirited defense of civil liberties and human rights, Soli Sorbajee's has also been the strongest voice raised against censorship and for the freedom of the press. The roots of his conviction perhaps lie in the imposition of the Indian Emergency in June 1975, which lasted for 21 months. During this period, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi time effectively had the power to suspend elections and civil liberties. The media felt the impact as well, as the press became almost completely muzzled. The very notion of the Emergency went against the grain for the libertarian Sorabjee, and he immersed himself in the representation of detainees and journalists. Many times, this was work done free of charge. He also used his legal mind to good effect and brought ingenuity into play when his path was blocked. In those years even judgements that went against the government were not allowed to be published. He got around the problem by writing a book called The Law of Censorship. It was a sort of treatise on the law — what it was during British times, principles of censorship, etc. — and in the process, he referred to all the judgements that were not allowed to be published, thereby documenting them for posterity. Of course, there were social consequences to his actions at a time when even most newspapers lived in fear of reprisals. Even though he chooses to downplay the effects of his work, he does admit that those were difficult times. "I was really looked upon as someone not to be closely associated with. Because I was an opponent of emergency, tracking cases, getting orders struck down, etc., I was not exactly ostracised, but very clearly avoided." To this date, Sorabjee has strong views on interfering with the press, the banning of books and movies and in fact, censorship in all forms. The recent verdict against a major news channel for erroneous identification of a public personality and awarding of damages of `100 crore, offends his sense of what is right. "It is, to my mind, settled law that excessive damages chills freedom of the press, freedom of expression and offends the doctrine of proportionality and so cannot be sustained in law," are his final words on the subject. With his long history of defending journalists, he has a predictable response to the current raging debate to bring in laws to monitor the conduct of the press. "I don't like media being policed. And I don't like the chairman of the Press Council coming out with all sorts of statements, one of them being that 'media should not say anything about astrology because that is superstition.' Now I don't believe in astrology, but other people do and what's wrong with that? The other thing that I was astonished about was his saying that there was excessive attention to cricket! Arre baba, cricket is a national passion. So I don't want anyone's subjective opinions coming in to censoring the media on the grounds of what should or should not be done. Whatever cannot be done is in the Constitution."
Professional Integrity
As you spend time with the man who has been a role model to many lawyers, you find it a refreshing change to speak to someone who actually believes in the causes he represents. Words like 'rule of law', 'justice' and 'equality' hold genuine meaning for the man who has been on an unending quest to defend them. For him, the only alternative being governed by the law is the descent into becoming "a police raj". Though soft-spoken and blessed with the lawyer's ability to turn a phrase, the passion seeps into his voice as Soli Sorabjee speaks forcefully about the profession he has dedicated his life to "What is forgotten is that law is essentially a service oriented profession. I always tell people that if they want to make money in a really short time, there's nothing wrong with that, but then don't come into the profession of law. Real estate business karo, import-export business karo, law me nahi aana. Lawyers also don't live on love and fresh air, but if the idea is to make a mini fortune in a short time, then that is a wrong mind-set with which to enter the profession." He believes that senior lawyers should be asked to attend at least one matter free of charge every month and applauds those who do. He admits sadly that lawyers do not command the respect that they used to and abhors the practice of overcharging clients. He sees this current commercial trend in almost every profession and refers to it as the "Kaun Banega Crorepati" factor, rueing the fact that nobody seems to be asking "Kaun Banega Desh Ka Sewak". When asked about corruption in the judicial system, he believes in accountability and a strong regulatory body, but asserts that "the higher judiciary cannot be brought under the Lokpal. Lay people and others can't judge them. Accountability is important, but judicial independence is equally important and can't be compromised." Even if the Lokpal Bill was to bring High Court and Supreme Court judges under its ambit, Sorabjee believes that the provision could be challenged. It goes without saying that along with the rest of the nation, he will be tracking the progress of the Lokpal Bill very keenly. he law can be a hard taskmaster and one would imagine that a man who lives his profession would have little time left over to spend with family. Indeed, Sorabjee admits that he did not go on picnics or interact with his children as much as he would have wished to. His career also necessitated the move away from his family from Mumbai to Delhi, where he lives today. However, some of his ideals and zest for living did filter down to the next generation. Of his three children, his elder son chose medicine "and he is not a mercenary doctor at all", while the younger son is editor of a magazine on autocars, a passion that his father doesn't share, "except to ask him which car to buy". But his daughter, Zia Mody, followed in her father's footsteps and is now a partner at AZB and Partners, a leading law firm. Though she initially did litigation and went to court every day like her father, she admits that he was "very upset" when she decided to switch to corporate law. Today, the father-daughter duo agrees to disagree on the issue. Reading about Soli Sorabjee, you might visualise an old man, surrounded by tomes and legal treatises, with little desire to think beyond the law. But you would be wrong. Enter his office and, while you will find books lining the walls from floor to ceiling, you will also find stacks of old records on the shelves. Names like Archie Shaw and John Coltrane leap out at the visitor. Ask him about his collection and a gleam enters his eye as a smile of pure joy lights up his face — you know that you are in the presence of an avid Jazz fan. As a young man in college, he had the distinction of forming the SS Quartet (no prizes for guessing what the SS stood for!), an instrumental jazz band. With Sorabjee on the clarinet, the foursome even got some time on the airwaves at All India Radio. As he blows the dust off the jacket and lovingly slides out a prize LP, he remembers some of the Jazz greats that he counted as friends, foremost among them being Benny Goodman. "He got me a clarinet at a discount with the promise that I would rehearse and practice regularly. I told him 'Benny baba maaf karo. You don't know the legal profession here in India — I can't do it.' So he gave it to my grandson." Small wonder, then, that his grandchildren recall a time when the strains of Jazz would come pouring out of his house in Mumbai. Sorabjee has been a supporter and patron of the cause in India, helping to organise the annual Jazz Yatra to this day. He has had occasion to mix with some of the brightest stars in the Jazz firmament and still remembers a visit that the famous Dizzy Gillespie made to his house decades ago. When it was time for dinner, he offered the singer- composer and trumpet player dhansak (a traditional Parsi dish), which Gillespie ate in copious quantities. Sorabjee still remembers thinking, "I hope nothing happens to him because he won't be able to perform and those fellows will be after me." Gillespie went on to perform the next day, but the incident still elicits a chuckle from the man who hosted the dinner. For most of us, music is a form of relaxation and food for the soul. For Sorabjee, Jazz is also a source of inspiration. As he explains it, "Actual rehearsals of Jazz are improvisations. And that's one of the reasons I like it and it affects my legal practice. I don't make solid notes going into 30 pages. I just go with two to three pages and then improvise. You think you have a good point and then you realise it's not making any headway. So then you improvise." We leave Soli Sorabjee at the door to his residencecum- chambers, still holding a record in his hands, with a stack of books at his elbow. With impeccable manners, he shakes hands with one person and pats another on the head. As he shuffles back to his desk, we know that though age has slowed his gait, time has not dimmed his ardour for the task at hand. The passionate 20 year old who started this journey still lives on in the older man's body. The cause of justice is still being served by its strongest defender.