Bar Association of India Pays Rich Tribute To Soli Sorabjee; Institutes Shri Soli J Sorabjee Memorial Lecture on Freedom of Speech and Expression

On 06^th May 2021, the Bar Association of India held a virtual condolence meeting to pay tributes to the Shri Soli J. Sorabjee. The meeting was attended by many of the top lawyers of the country who personally knew Shri Soli J. Sorabjee, members of the Bar Association of India, Advocates etc. The meeting was also attended and graced by the presence of family members of Late Shri Sorabjee including his wife Ms. Zena Sorabjee, daughter Zia Mody, sons Jahangir and Hormazd Sorabjee and other family and friends.

Late Shri Soli J. Sorabjee was an exceptional lawyer who was known to champion the cause of freedom of speech and expression. He was an office bearer of BAI from 1972 till the last date of his breath i.e. 30^th April 2021 except for a hiatus from 2004 to 2008. He held important posts in the BAI during his tenure including as the Hony. Chairman (Ex-Officio) in his capacity as the Attorney General for India and Vice President of BAI for almost 28 years.

Meeting began with condolences by the Attorney General for India, Shri KK Venugopal who is also the Hony. Chairman (Ex-offico) of the Bar Association of India and followed by Shri Prashant Kumar, President of the Bar Association of India. Many of his friends/colleagues regaled the gathering with interesting anecdotes and little known facets of Soli Sorabjee. Many of the legal luminaries shared their personal experience with Soli including Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, Senior Advocate, President Elect-the Bar Association of India, Janak Dwarka Das, Senior Advocate, Shri S.S. Naganand, Senior Advocate, Shri Arivnd P. Datar, Senior Advocate, Shri Chander Uday Singh, Senior Advocate, Shri Jaideep Gupta, Senior Advocate, Shri Krishnan Venugopal, Senior Advocate, Shri Shyam Divan, Senior Advocate, Ms. Pinky Anand, Senior Advocate and Ms. Zia Mody, Advocate and daughter of Late Shri Soli Sorabjee. Brief excerpts of experiences of Attorney General and Zia Mody are extracted:

Attorney General for India recalled "He was a personal friend of mine"… "Soli was a good friend and many splendid being....." … "…He was an international personality."

AG then quoted from his eminent friends abroad.

Dorothy Nelson Judge of US Supreme Court of Appeals: "I was so Impressed by his brilliant mind but even more so by his warm and friendly hospitality"

Anthony Lester, Lord Lester of Barone Hill, said, "Soli was renowned for his life long pursuit of justice and pursuit of human rights in India and beyond. He was an independent" … "he was an independent and impartial Attorney General and he is a powerful and principle advocate."

Closer to he commanded huge affection and, "the then Vice President, Shri Hamid Anzari said that Soli personifies professional excellence, depth of scholarship and diversity of interest that together provides, nourishment for the intellect and the soul."

What more can a man want in life, then the respect and admiration of his fellow being and in all this there is no mention of his first love namely the love for Jazz. Believe me, all this that is being said about Soli is not because he is no more but because each and every word spoken, qualities described, is contribution to the constitution of law and rule of law. Every word of this is a truth and nothing but the truth.

Zia Mody also spoke about her father and recalled, ".. I remember Daddy telling me, every time I would get nervous about a matter. He would say, you say all your Bhai prayer but your main prayer every night you have to pray is that your senior tomorrow falls sick and you argue the matter."

In the early days, when papa was seeing that I was not getting many briefs, and I was getting agitated and irritated. He would say why are you wasting your time in the chamber go and sit in every court, know thy judge, does he like employ does he like employers is he interested in landlords or does he favour tenants. Get to know your judge, if You don't know your judge you can't argue a case properly.

She concluded by her touching words, "We say bye bye to my father physically but I do hope that you will always always cherish each and every memory that you have of him."

The meeting concluded by playing one of the last known interviews of Soli Sorabjee to online news channel www.theprobe.in , wherein he said that, "If you are not independent, your soul is sold, and if you sell your soul, you sell the soul of democracy in India"… he further said "without independent journalism, democracy is zero."

Till his last breath he held the highest value for freedom of speech and expression and right to life and liberty in its expanded form.

To watch the whole program and hear the experiences of his friends you can view the same on the YouTube channel of the Bar Association of India