His Early Life

Ram Boolchand Jethmalani was born on 14th September, 1923 in Shikarpur, Sindh in the division of the then Bombay Presidency, now part of Pakistan in the family of Boolchand Gurmukhdas Jethmalani and Prabati Boolchand. He completed matriculation at the age of 13.
He did LLB from Bombay University with a first-class at the age of 17 and LLM from  Bombay University from Sindh.

His Career

Ram Jethmalani started his career as a lawyer and Professor in Sindh before partition. He started his own law firm in Karachi with his friend A.K.Brohi. In February 1948, when riots broke out in Karachi, he fled to India, he had only one paisa coin in his pocket and stayed in the refugee camp for a few days. He fought his first case at the age of 17 in the court under Justice Godfrey Davis. He is also a part-time Professor at the Government Law College, Mumbai.

As a Politician

Jethmalani contested as an independent candidate from Ulhasnagar supported both by the Shiv Sena and Bhartiya Jan Sangh but he lost the elections. He became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1988. He became the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in 1996 in the Government of India led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the second tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was given the Portfolio of Union Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998. But on 13 October 1999, he was again sworn in as the Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. In the general elections of 2004, he contested against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Lucknow constituency as an independent candidate. The Indian National Congress did not field their candidates in this election; however, he lost. Later on, in 2010, he was given a Rajya Sabha ticket by Bharatiya Janata Party from Rajasthan and he was selected. He is also a member of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. Jethmalani is a person who is known to speak 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, the former law minister and Rajya Sabha MP 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.



Awards and Achievements

He got the International Jurist Award. In 1977, he got Human Rights Award instituted by World Peace Through Law for his fight against authoritarianism at the Philippines.


Books by Jethmalani

Some of his written books are

 Big Egos Small Men,

Conscience of a Maverick and many more.

Mylawman extends our sincere respects to such a legend of the legal fraternity. May His Soul rest in Peace!