Shanti Bhushan. A legendary jurist who also served as the Law Minister of the country passed away. The legacy of Shanti Bhushan will always be remembered. A vocal supporter of judicial reform, Bhushan received numerous honours and awards for his contributions to the Indian legal system as well as his involvement in a variety of social and political causes. For his services to the country, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award.
Born in 1925, Bhushan was vocal about the issue of corruption and was active in the legal profession, till he took his last breath. The former union law minister Shanti Bhushan had appeared in numerous cases of public importance. The eminent jurist, who died of a brief illness on Tuesday at the age of 97, served as the law minister in the Morarji Desai cabinet from 1977 to 1979. He was one of the founders of the NGO-the Centre for Public Interest Litigation.
Regarded as a champion of PILs, Bhushan had recently argued in the Supreme Court where he wanted a court-monitored probe into the Rafale fighter jets deal. His legacy was made everlasting by his association with something that triggered a chain of events resulting in the Emergency in 1975. Where he successfully argued for his petitioner Raj Narain in the Allahabad High Court. The court was convinced by his arguments where Bhushan proved that the then PM Indira Gandhi has committed electoral malpractices. And the election of Indira was set aside and she was disqualified for a period of six years from contesting elections.
His Political Journey- When He Was the Founding Member of Two Party.
His penchant for fighting against corruption was evident in his political journey. In 1980 he was one of the founding members of the BJP. Before that he was associated with Congress (O) and later he joined Janata Party. He was also a member of the Rajya Sabha. As a Law minister, he introduced the Forty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India, which repealed many provisions of the Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India passed by the Indira Gandhi ministry. That was the time when Morarji Desai was the PM. IN 1986 he resigned from BJP as the party did not choose the path he suggested over an election petition. Later he joined the Aam Aadmi party as a founding member in the year 2012.
Bhushan Also Faced Contempt Case
Till his last breath, Shanti Bhushan stood against corruption like a mountain. For that, he also faced a lot of criticism and contempt charges. In one of them, he along with his son Prashant Bhushan has to face the charges of contempt of court in the Supreme Court. Both of them had made a statement about corruption in the higher judiciary. Specifically, about the corruption of former Chief Justices. In 2010, as the case was being argued in court, he refused to apologize and said that he is prepared to go to jail. He clearly said that still stands firm in his statement.
Few of the well-known cases featuring the Shanti Bhushan:
1. Appeared as a counsel for Arundhati Roy in a contempt case against her in the Supreme Court in 2002
2. Represented Shaukat Hussain for an appeal against his 10-year conviction in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2008
3. Appeared as senior counsel for Transparency International in the Provident Fund scandal case of Ghaziabad, which allegedly involved several judges of the Indian judiciary. Deeming his remarks as contemptuous, the bench likened his behavior to that of a “street urchin” in this case
4. Bhushan was the counsel for the former PM HD Deve Gowda in a land allocation case related to the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor.
5. Appeared for two of the defendants accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case in 1994
