-By Adheer Som

{The following is an excerpt adapted from the author’s book, Gumnami Baba: a Case History}

January 23, 2015

Faizabad cantonment is home to the Dogra Regiment whose insignia — like the INA’s — is a Tiger, and whose men also fought and died in that forgotten army. A long, pleasant road leads through the forested military encampment to a mythic shore of ancient Saryu. Here lies Guptar Ghat, where Gumnami Baba was secretly cremated on September 18, 1985. It is not a Samshan Ghat (cremation ground). The life-story of only one other man has concluded here and that man was the best of men, the eighth Avatar of Vishnu, Shri Ram himself. In stark contrast to his place of birth, his place of passing is uncontroversial, quiet and beautiful. The river is magnificent, its bank lined with boats, overlooking which stands the tall, yellow-walled Ram-Janaki temple. The adjunct Charan Paduka Mandir enshrines the footprints that Ram left on the stone steps leading to the water, in the depths of which he left mortal coil at the end of his reign. Just a few meters from this sacred spot is Gumnami Baba’s Samadhi: a 6 ft by 3 ft raised platform with headstone and a boundary.

The memorial is about a decade old, prior to which all that marked the location was a rock, with “Anam Sant” (nameless saint) scrawled on it.

How could it be that a literal “nobody” — whose death was the talk of town, whose scene of death in the middle of town was beset with people — was yet somehow “secretly cremated” in the interiors of an Army Cantonment, by a total of 13 civilians, at the same place where Lord Rama took Jal-Samadhi? I paid my respects to the Lord first, then to the saint with no name. It was gladdening to think that if the latter was really Netaji, then Netaji had the best possible company and view at his final resting place, better than all his sainted rivals.

The connection with Ram continued at Ram Bhawan, where Gumnami Baba had lived out his last years as an unseen tenant. The small, squalid quarters he’d occupied are in a corner of the backyard of this large, handsome house in the heart of Faizabad, right across the road from the district’s main government offices. A bust of Bose stands in its lawn. I and the SDM Sahib with me stood before it and saluted. “Jai Hind Janaab” he said. “Happy Birthday, Sir” said I.

The Singhs of Ram Bhawan have long been one of the city’s reputed and influential families. Thakur Guru Dutt Singh, who built and named the house, had been instrumental — as City Magistrate in 1949 — to the appearance of the infant Rama (“Ram Lalla”) idol inside the disputed Babri Masjid structure. The late magistrate’s grandson Shakti Singh — a senior member of the BJP State unit — very kindly showed us around the nameless saint’s one-time quarters.

There wasn’t much to see. The two-room set now has a pucca roof and is the office of Singh’s NGO “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Rashtriya Vichar Kendra”. The walls have been repainted and new furniture put in. Only two things remain unchanged: the still-curtained window between the rooms, from behind which the saint spoke to the rare few he allowed into his presence; and the small backdoor in the adjoining boundary wall, which opens onto the densely wooded Dogra Cantonment grounds. A good door to come and go, without being known to do so…

Like Netaji, the saint was known to have been a heavy smoker. Tobacco pipes and imported cigarettes like “555” — unavailable in these parts even today — were found in his belongings. Like Netaji, he was also known to have celebrated his birthday on January 23. Whoever he’d been, I had no reason to presume it wasn’t his birthday so I’d brought a present. With Shakti Singh’s permission I placed the gift —a pair of Romeo y Julieta Churchill Cigars — on the window-sill. As I took my leave, he asked if anything could be done to expedite implementation of the High Court’s 2013 judgment in the saint’s case (of which Singh is the last living petitioner). I assured him I would do everything I could.

Interestingly, when the petition was filed in the case back in late January 1986 by Netaji’s niece Lalita Bose, the mystery monk seemed destined to hit not just national but worldwide headlines. There seemed no story half as historic around which could move the spotlight from the story of the strange, nameless saint who might once have been Subhas Chandra Bose… Yet, not only did the spotlight move away almost overnight, it moved away due to something historic that happened in Faizabad itself. As Lalita Bose was filing her petition asking to establish the saint’s identity, in the Lucknow Bench of the High Court, another petition was being filed at Faizabad Sessions Court for opening the long-shut main gates of ‘Ram Janmbhoomi.’ On February 1, 1986, the District Judge ordered the unlocking of the site. On the February 10, Justices Sageer Ahmed and G.B. Singh ordered U.P. Government to inventory and shift the saint’s material to the Treasury, pending inquiry. By then Gumnami Baba was no longer the news, having been supplanted by Shri Ram himself.

December 6, 2017

They say there’s a time and place for everything. As I write this, the Gumnami Baba Galleries are ready and awaiting inauguration, where else, but at the Ram–KathaSangrahalaya, Ayodhya.

No wonder they also say, Sab Ram Ji ki Leela hai.

CLICK HERE to Know More or Buy Online

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For this buoyant evening, the Chief Guest was Justice A. K. Sikri, Judge Supreme Court, Guests of Honour and Panellists were Justice Dipak Misra (Former Chief Justice of India), Attorney General K. K. Venugopal, eminent and distinguished Prof (Dr) NR Madhava Menon and Mr Surendra Malik, Chief Editor, Supreme Court Cases (SCC) . The Panel discussion was moderated by Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18.

The event was attended by distinguished guests including another former CJI Justice R.C. Lahoti and veteran Advocate and former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee among others.

“The Justice Dipak Misra Reader” is an ensemble of the major judgments delivered by Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra during his tenure in the office. The evening began with welcome speech by Mr Sumeet Malik for a gathering of Former Chief Justices, Sitting and Former Justices along with an energetic and full of curiosities audience for the launch of the Dipak Misra Reader following the panel discussion on “Constitutional Morality” a very much used and discussed phenomenon in the talked about recent 5-Judge Bench, Sabarimala Case [Indian Young Lawyers Assn. v. State of Kerala, 2018 SCC OnLine SC 1690].

 In the address, Mr Sudeep Malik’s words of wisdom and thought-provoking speech on the topic for the day “Constitutional Morality” gave a start to the discussion followed by Ms Shereen Bhan’s moderation towards the discussion. Former CJI Dipak Misra while mentioning the concept of “Constitutional Silences” along with Justice AK Sikri, Judge Supreme Court of India, speaking in favour of the idea of “Constitutional Morality” pulled all the strings for the acceptance of the same by AG KK Venugopal who supported the dissenting view of Indu Malhotra, J. in the Sabarimala decision along with Prof (Dr) NR Madhava Menon giving a “not-so-convinced” nod towards the concept. Mr Surendra Malik elevated the concept of constitutional morality to the stature of “Dharma”, a description that was well received by the august gathering including the Hon’ble Judges.

The phenomenal evening assembled with the efforts of the EBC family was wrapped up successfully with enthralling and enlightening views of the illustrious crowd.

About the book:

The Justice Dipak Misra Reader is the unique and comprehensive law and jurisprudence enunciated by Former Chief Justice Dipak Misra on certain key issues that face our Nation and our People today, in his seven highly prolific years at the Supreme Court. What makes this body of law particularly valuable is that it is directly actionable.  The Reader has been crafted in such a way that the original headnotes, pagination and paragraphing of the judgments as published in SCC has been retained. Thus, the cases included in The Reader can easily be cited in a court of law.

The cases in Vol. 1 of the Reader relate particularly to Constitutional Governance beyond the express words of the Constitution, in consonance with what has been coined as “Constitutional Morality”: the Spirit that animates the Letter of the Constitution.

In the area of Human Rights and Social Reform, the cases in Vol. 2 of The Reader relate most poignantly to the Empowerment of Women and Children and to the Protection of their Body, Soul and Spirit.

In addition to crafting completely new principles in the above crucial areas of law, the learned judgments in Vol. 3 clarify important issues in various areas of Criminal Law and Procedure, and Arbitration, Commercial and Civil Law.

-Sumeet Malik

-Sudeep Malik

To Buy This Book CLICK HERE

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The event was a grand one itself as it was the last week of the tenure of CJI Dipak Misra and the week of major landmark judgments pronounced with “Aadhaar, M. Nagaraj and Live Streaming” verdicts out on the same day as the event took place on the evening of 26-09-2018, marking it to be one of the landmark days, as it would be so called and placed in the history.

The jam-packed hall of Bikaner House witnessed the arrival of the eminent personalities, which comprised of Chief Guest, Hon’ble the Chief Justice, Justice Dipak Misra along with the Guests of Honour Justice A.K. Sikri and Mr K.K. Venugopal, Attorney General for India.

Following this the evening as chaired by the CJI wouldn’t have been complete if he himself would not have spoken a few words on the book and further a panel discussion took place which was moderated by Ms Haripriya Padmanabhan, Advocate, Supreme Court.

From the Author: In sequel to the first edition, the author has collected the pearls from landmark judgments covering almost every issue ranging from women’s rights to privacy; from education to passive euthanasia; etc. and added them to the already crafted beautiful necklace. The author has added to the already created extensive word index by which the quotes that contain a particular word can be found.

The Word Index also lists Articles of the Constitution and Sections of the Acts and therefore can be really helpful in case the reader wishes to look for an excerpt with respect to a particular provision.

“We hope that in creating this work, we are able to make the law a little less dreary and those engaged in the study of the law are made to think, reflect and be inspired by these little gems.”

-Sumeet Malik

Quotable Quotes from Supreme Court Cases (SCC) (1969–2018)

An Insight

Constitution

Duty of Court

“The constitutional courts cannot sit in oblivion when fundamental rights of individuals are at stake. Our Constitution has conceived the constitutional courts to act as defenders against illegal intrusion of the fundamental rights of individuals. The Constitution, under its aegis, has armed the constitutional courts with wide powers which the courts should exercise, without an iota of hesitation or apprehension, when the fundamental rights of individuals are in jeopardy.”

Dipak Misra, C.J. in Kalpana Mehta v. Union of India, (2018)7 SCC 1, para 45

Democracy

“There is a recognition to the hard reality that without protection for human rights there can be no democracy and no justification for democracy.”

Dr A.K. Sikri, J. in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, para 124

Women Empowerment

“Honesty, pride, and self-esteem are crucial to the personal freedom of a woman. Social progress depends on the progress of everyone. Crime against women is an unlawful intrusion of her right to privacy, which offends her self-esteem and dignity.”

Banumathi, J. in Mukesh v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2017) 6 SCC 1, paras 370 and 379

“No nation, with all its boasts, and all its hopes, can ever morally be clean till all its women are really free — free to live without sale of their young flesh the lascivious wealth or commercialising their luscious figures.”

V.R. Krishna Iyer, J. in Chitan J. Vaswani v. State of W.B., (1975) 2 SCC 829, para 15

It was a successful evening that was attended by an illustrious crowd of academicians, advocates and community members who were enlightened and enthralled.

To Buy this Book CLICK HERE

The post Book Release Event Thus Spake Their Lordships (Second Edition) by Sumeet Malik (26-09-2018) appeared first on EBC.

19 August, New Delhi: Courting Politics by debut author Ms. Shweta Bansal is the first authorised biography of nine leading lawyers and politicians of the country. Published by the Eastern Book Company, it documents the lives of Shri Ram Jethmalani, Shri Shanti Bhushan, Shri P. Chidambram, Shri Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Shri Kapil Sibal, Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Salman Khurshid, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and Shri Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The launch event which was held at Bikaner House in New Delhi on 19th August 2017 witnessed the presence of all the dignitaries featured in the book over a panel discussion moderated by Ms. Shereen Bhan.

Courting Politics is an anthology of biographies of nine notable men in the field of law and politics. The book is divided into nine chapters; each dedicated to a dignitary, and is a compilation of their short biographies written through the prism of law and politics. Each chapter discusses the journey of its protagonist highlighting the ups and downs in their professional and personal lives. Courting Politics is an attempt to look at their lives as not just politicians and lawyers but as ordinary human beings. It exposes their rawest emotions and deepest feelings – their love, despair, grit and triumph.

It deals with the relationship between lawyers and politics through these nine lives. The book is a result of interviews conducted over the past one and a half years with these legal panjandrums and their personal and professional peers like Dr Manmohan Singh, Shri Rajnath Singh, Soli Sorabjee, Prashant Bhushan, Nalini Chidambaram, Justice Markandey Katju, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Jairam Ramesh, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Rajat Sharma, Ahmed Patel, Akhil and Amit Sibal, Aditi Phadni, Surjit Bhalla, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Shobana Bhartiya, ASG Tushar Mehta, Sushil Modi, Honble Minister JP Nadda, Subramanium Swamy, Shardul and Pallavi Shroff, Shoma Choudhary, Mahesh Jethmalani, Dolly Jaitley, Rohan and Sonali Jaitley, Aditya Shankar, Shekhar Gupta, Anuradha and Rajiv Shukla and many more.

“If we see the numbers the Indian Parliament is headed, layered and controlled by legal luminaries. I discovered the idea that these lawyers in politics have not been written about and incomplete stories float about them in the public domain, which barely do justice to their lives and achievements. But most of the time, the process has been a race against time. I was waging war on various fronts – personal and professional. After several rounds of interviews with them over the past two years, I realised that they suffer the same fears and insecurities as I do however what makes them special is their extraordinary quality to work hard and persevere.“ says, Ms. Shweta Bansal.

Courting Politics helps its readers to understand the evolution of Indian Democracy through the eyes of our legal system. These are intimate tales narrating the lives of these men and contain information that is largely not in the public domain. This book is an attempt to look at their lives as not just politicians or lawyers but as living breathing human beings.

To Buy Courting Politics Now CLICK HERE

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The legal classic, Justice at Heart- Life Journey of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, was recently launched at India International Centre, New Delhi. The panellists at the book launch function were Justice Dipak Misra, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Shri P. P. Rao, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Professor M.P. Singh, Chancellor, Central University of Haryana. Also present were Chief Justice Ahmadi, Justice Narayanan, Mr. Bhardwaj, Former Union Minister and Governor of Karnataka.

Justice at Heart: Life Journey of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer is a humble homage to the legendary judge who lived and worked for social justice for the people of India. Justice Krishna Iyer was a towering and a multi-faceted personality having a varied experience of life. He has inspired many persons by his philosophy of life, and his insatiable hunger for socio-economic justice. An ardent advocate of change for better, a person with simple habits, he was a friend of all.

Sumeet Malik, Associate Editor, Supreme Court Cases, initiated the function and welcomed the esteemed guests, “Justice Krishna Iyer has been the author of many books, some of which we at Eastern Book Company have been privileged to publish, and he has been the subject of many books. I do hope that this book shall be a worthy addition to the collection of literature of a worthy man.”

The book was released by Justice Dipak Misra, who effervescently lauded the work, “I congratulate Mr. Salman Khurshid, Prof. Lokendra Malik for writing the book which has a biographical sketch in a different way, different style, and I must unhesitatingly congratulate Eastern Book Company for bringing this book with a beautiful cover and it belies the saying don’t judge a book by its cover”.

The audience was enthralled with a scholarly exposition of the book by Prof. M.P. Singh, “I am glad that I am here to speak on a wonderful book, Justice at Heart-Life Journey of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer is a remarkable book in a number of ways… The book released today matching with the stature of Justice Iyer also has an exceptionally beautiful cover, majestic get-up, and the best available paper, easy to carry for its size.”

Sri P.P. Rao, who has also contributed an erudite forward to the book based on his personal interactions with Justice Iyer in and outside the court, appreciated the book thoroughly, “… I am happy to be here on this occasion… this book tells you something of many facets of his life, that is the uniqueness of this book… It is a very nice book to be written, and the illustrious authors and publishers deserve a big hand…”.

The following is the link to this book on our EBC Webstore,

Justice at Heart
Order your copy NOW!

Justice at Heart is also available as eBook on the EBC Reader.

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