One of India’s finest legal minds, Soli Sorabjee, the Former Attorney General, died of Covid19 this morning. He was 91.

A senior lawyer and Padma Vibhushan recipient, Mr. Sorabjee was being treated at a private hospital in Delhi.

Soli Jehangir Sorabjee was born in Mumbai in 1930. He started his law practice in 1953 with the Bombay High Court. In 1971, he was designated senior counsel by the Supreme Court. Mr. Sorabjee became Attorney General first in 1989 and then from 1998 to 2004.

As he was a passionate human rights lawyer, Soli Sorabjee was appointed a UN Special Rapporteur for Nigeria in 1997.

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Mr. Sorabjee had joined the UN Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and was its chairman from 1998 to 2004. He was also a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Sorabjee had served as a member of the UN world court or the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. In 2002, he became a member of the Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution of India.

Mr. Sorabjee also played an important role in the work towards police reforms in India. He was the head of the Police Act Drafting Committee, which prepared the Model Police Act in 2006, which was a major step of guidance towards the states to reform the police organizations.