The Fearless Judge is a must-read book written by Insiyah Vahanvaty, the granddaughter of Late Justice A.M. Ahmadi. The book opens with a very interesting chapter titled ‘The Black Sheep’ and ends at a beautiful quote that summarises the life and times of Justice Ahmadi.
The book starts from the early days of Justice Ahmadi discussing the various events that shaped his perception and left a huge mark on him. Thereafter, transitioning to his early days in the judiciary to his meteoric rise to the helm of the Indian Judiciary. As a reader I was expecting the book to finish at the end of the judicial chapters but to my pleasant surprise the book and the life of Justice Ahmadi was not limited to his days in the courtrooms.
Justice Ahmadi was a legend in the Indian Judiciary. When he took charge of the office of the CJI, there was a pendency of 1,20,000 cases and when he remitted his office the pendency was reduced to just 18,000 cases. This feat is unimaginable in today’s times. His legal acumen and his knowledge of the implications of his judgments on the ground level gave him a distinct edge over his colleagues at the bench.
The man was all that one aspires to be in the legal fraternity. His integrity was untarnished, his legal acumen was respected and his soft heartedness for the vulnerable groups of the society was one that shaped his career and earned him the name everyone so fondly remembers. His belief in the Constitution and the various institutions of democracy was much more than his personal ambitions. While he was a puisne Judge at the Supreme Court he gave several dissenting judgments. He believed that “the sanctity of the Judiciary and the Constitution were far more important than individual power”.
He was always a man of absolute resolute. One incident that I found really interesting was that there was major discontent on his obtaining judgeship at the Civil Court. To this effect he was assigned a high-profile murder case wherein there were 150 witnesses. The whispers in the court corridors were that “Who is on trial – the judge or the accused?”, as Ahmadi was a young judge back then. To fight and put these whispers to an end, he dictated the entire judgment in an open court over a period of two days. The judgment was challenged before the High Court. The High Court upheld the view taken by Justice Ahmadi. This incident transformed a young Aziz Ahmadi to the legal stalwart, Justice Ahmadi.
He was the first judge who rose from the lowermost ranks of the judiciary to the post of the Chief Justice of India, this trivia itself is inspirational for all in the legal field.
The author switches seamlessly from being a fly in the room of young Aziz to giving an outsider’s view of Justice Ahmadi’s legacy. These transitions effortlessly help us understand the life and works of Justice Ahmadi
The book that officially launches on the 3oth of September is a must read not just for lawyers but for any individual who is interested in the Indian Judicial System as there can be no better way to understand the Indian Judiciary than by getting an insight into the life of a man who was a lawyer, a Civil Court judge, a High Court Judge and then the Chief Justice of India.