Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee died of Covid19 on Friday morning.
He was 91.
Padma Vibhushan recipient and senior advocate Soli Sorabjee was being treated at a private hospital in Delhi, says media report.
Soli Jehangir Sorabjee was born in Mumbai 1930.
Sorabjee started his legal practice in 1953 in Bombay High Court.
In 1971, Sorabjee was designated as a senior counsel by the Supreme Court of India.
Sorabjee became the Attorney General of India for two terms, first from 1989-90 and then from 1998-2004.
A renowned human rights lawyer, Sorabjee was appointed by the United Nations as a Special Rapporteur for Nigeria, in 1997, to report on the human rights situation in that country.
From 1998 to 2004, he become a member and later chairman of the UN-Sub Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
Since 1998, he remained as a member of the United Nations Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
A champion of freedom of speech and expression, Soli Sorabjee has also served as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague from 2000 to 2006.
In many landmark cases in the Supreme Court of India, the great lawyer defended the freedom of press.
He was instrumental in revoking censorship orders and bans on publications.
For his defense of freedom of speech and protection of human rights, Sorabjee was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, the second-highest civilian award in India in March 2002.
Union defence minister Rajnath Singh has expressed his deep condolence at the demise of Sorabjee.
“Deeply pained by the demise of India’s former Attorney General and veteran jurist, Shri Soli Sorabjee. He was an exceptional legal mind and a great scholar of our constitution. His services to the nation will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.