During difficult times, when many fell silent, senior advocate Fali S. Nariman’s baritone resonated in the walls of the court and beyond, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said on Thursday.
The CJI was paying tribute to Nariman at a Full Court Reference held in his memory. The jurist passed away on February 21.
CJI Chandrachud said Nariman, who was vocal in his support of civil liberties and rights, represented the “conscience of the nation” in hard times.
“Every now and then a lawyer transcends advocacy to become a leader and pillar of the community,” the CJI said at the ceremony held in his packed courtroom at the Supreme Court, with judges, lawyers and family members of Nariman, including his son and former Supreme Court judge, Justice Rohinton Nariman, in attendance.
The Chief Justice recalled when Nariman resigned as Additional Solicitor General with the imposition of the Internal Emergency in June 1975.
“As Martin Luther King Jr. once mused, cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’, expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’, vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’, but conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’. Nariman was guided by only one question,” the CJI said.
The CJI narrated a joke that Nariman used to share about two lawyers meeting at the court library during the Emergency period, each exhorting the other to speak first.
He recounted that Nariman had valiantly fought in favour of the Delhi High Court’s judgment decriminalising homosexuality. But the Supreme Court had gone on to set aside the High Court order. It was only years later, through its judgment in the Navtej Singh Johar case, that the top court corrected its error and confirmed the High Court verdict.
“The hallmark of a great lawyer is not one who wins, but one who fights well and, in doing so, furthers the judges’ own understanding of the issues. Nariman was amongst the very best,” the Chief Justice said.
