Lekhi,‘judge’s best critic’,dies at 85

Armed with a phenomenal memory,Lekhi would hardly refer to case papers during his submissions. His arguments were mostly extempore — and always flawless.

Lekhi participated in the Quit India Movement and was jailed in 1945 and again in 1946 for his role in the ‘Free INA Prisoners’ movement. During the Emergency,he was detained under MISA and spent more than half of the imprisonment in solitary confinement. 

The senior advocate defended Satwant Singh in the Indira Gandhi murder case and was the lawyer for Zahira Sheikh in Best Bakery case. He also represented MPs in the bribery case leading to the Supreme Court defining privileges of Parliament and State Legislature.

Lekhi was also the advocate for Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM),an NGO,which filed a petition in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery case. He again represented the RMM,which raised the issue of the foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

One of his latest appearances in the Delhi High Court was for Patriots’ Forum,an NGO,which challenged the findings of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee,meant to look into the social,economic and educational status of Muslims. He argued that promotion of Muslims as a religious community would result in “destruction” of the secular polity promised by the Indian Constitution.