Ram Boolchand Jethmalani | |
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Ram Jethmalani
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MP of Rajya Sabha for Bihar | |
Assumed office 8 July 2016 |
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Preceded by | Gulam Rasool Balyawi, JD(U) |
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) | |
In office 5 July 2010 – 4 July 2016 |
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Constituency | Rajasthan |
Minister of Law and Justice | |
In office June 1999 – July 2000 |
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Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
Preceded by | M. Thambi Durai |
Succeeded by | Arun Jaitley |
Minister of Urban Development | |
In office 19 March 1998 – 14 June 1999 |
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Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
Minister of Law and Justice | |
In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996 |
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Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
Personal details | |
Born |
Shikharpur, British India |
14 September 1923
Political party |
Bharatiya Janata Party (till 2013) Rashtriya Janata Dal (2016–) |
Spouse(s) |
Ratna Jethmalani Durga Jethmalani |
Residence | 2, Akbar Road, New Delhi |
Alma mater | S.C. Shahani Law College, Karachi |
Profession | Lawyer, Jurist, Professor of Law, Politician, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist |
Religion | Hinduism |
Website | www |
Ratna Jethmalani
Ram Jethmalani (born 14 September 1923) is an Indian lawyer and politician. He has served as India's Union Law Minister and as chairman of the Bar Council of India. He has represented a sweep of cases from the high-profile to the controversial for which he has often faced severe criticism. He is the highest-paid Indian lawyer.
Ram Jethmalani obtained a law degree at the age of 17 and started practising law in his hometown (in today's Pakistan) until the partition of India. He married Durga Jethmalani and later, his second wife, Ratna Jethmalani. The partition led him to move to Mumbai as a refugee and he began his life afresh with his family. He has two sons and two daughters, of whom, Mahesh Jethmalani and Rani Jethmalani are also well known lawyers.
He was elected a member of parliament in the 6th and 7th Lok Sabha on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Mumbai. He has served as Law Minister of India and also as Minister of Urban Development during the prime ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee against whom he later contested election in the general elections of 2004 from Lucknow constituency. However, in 2010 he came back to BJP and was elected to Rajya Sabha on its ticket from Rajasthan. He has been criticised as being opportunistic because of this.
Jethmalani is a well known face amongst the legal community in India. Even though his forte lies in criminal law, he has appeared in many high-profile civil cases. From 1993 to 1998, he was one of the lawyers who represented Harshad Mehta during the Harshad Mehta scam and the Narasimha Rao bribery case. On 7 May 2010 he was elected as the president of Supreme Court Bar Association.