The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Eminent jurist and senior advocate Fali S. Nariman passed away at the age of 95.
Nariman argued several landmark cases during his illustrious career of 70 years, first in the Bombay high court and then in the Supreme Court. In May 1972, he was appointed the additional solicitor general of India – but resigned in protest when the Indira Gandhi government imposed Emergency rule in June 1975.
He received the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2007.
Nariman was a vocal critic of injustices and improprieties he saw in the country, including defamation cases against independent media houses, the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Article 370 case and more.
In an interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire in September last year, Nariman said the situation in India today is like a veiled Emergency, but with the added prevailing mood of anti-Muslim, anti-minority sentiment.
Nariman has also been vocal in his defence of the basic structure of the Constitution, which leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party – and one former chief justice and now Rajya Sabha member – have expressed dismissing views about. His most recent book, You Must Know Your Constitution, provides a comprehensive look at the document and judicial decisions around it.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud mourned Nariman’s death, saying, “he was a great giant of law and an intellectual”.
Former vice-president Hamid Ansari said India had lost an “iconic soul” and celebrated Nariman’s views on diversity.
Several senior lawyers expressed their condolences and celebrated Nariman’s life and work after his death.
“He was the last of a generation on lawyers from Bombay who shaped and moulded the history of constitutional law in India, a voice that stood by secular values, for the Independence of the judiciary,” said senior advocate Indira Jaising.
Prashant Bhushan said that Nariman was regarded as the “Bhishma Pitamah of the Lawyer community”.
“The most fitting tribute the Bar can pay him is to commit itself to the standard of integrity and independence that FSN always measured up to!” said Sanjoy Ghose.
Calling Nariman a “great son of India”, Kapil Sibal said he was “Not just one of the greatest lawyers of our country but one of the finest human beings who stood like a colossus above all. The corridors of the court will never be the same without him.”