Human rights activist and former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Rajinder Sachar, passed away on Friday at a hospital in the Capital. He was 94.
Justice Sachar, who was the Chief Justice of the HC from August 6, 1985, to December 22, 1985, associated with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, a rights group, after his retirement.
Born in 1923, Justice Sachar completed his early education at D.A.V. High School in Lahore and got his law degree from Law College, Lahore. After enrolling as an advocate in 1952 at Shimla, he began practising civil, criminal and revenue cases.
In 2005, he was appointed to head a committee to study the condition of the Muslim community and to prepare a report on their social, economic and educational status. The report, now famously known as the Sachar Committee report, highlighted that Muslims were under-represented in the civil service, police, military and in politics.
Detained in 2011
In 2011, Justice Sachar was detained by the police at Anna Hazare’s fast in the Capital. In 2012, a group of social activists, lawyers, retired army officers, journalists and film-makers had formed an online petition to support Justice Sachar for the post of President.
Justice Sachar wrote the preface of retired Justice Suresh Hosbet’s book ‘All Human Rights are Fundamental Rights’.
“I met him just six months ago. He was the most outstanding judge of our country and was deeply concerned with human rights. His report on minority rights was excellent. The recommendations made by him are very relevant to what’s happening in the country today. Whatever is going on in the country is exactly the opposite to what he has written,” said Justice Hosbet.
Prof. Farrukh Waris, ex-principal of Burhani College and actively working on Muslim women issues in Mumbai, said: “His demise is a loss to the entire Muslim community. There was nobody who studied and looked into issues of the community the way he did. The Sachar committee report was a huge contribution to the community. I think the time has come for us to revisit the report.”
‘Outstanding judge’
Congress leader and senior counsel Kapil Sibal said, “Our families were very close. My father and he practised together in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was an extraordinary human being and very empathetic. He was an outstanding judge. His concern for the poor and the less privileged always stood out because at heart he was a guardian. His report on the plight of the Muslims is something that will be remembered for a long time because as human beings we forget that poverty has no religion and it is an issue we all need to address. The lower you are in the pyramid without the ladder, the more empathetic and the more proactive you should be for them, that is what Justice Sachar was.”
‘Have lost a friend’
Kavita Srivastava, a secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, said: “We have lost a friend. He was such a gentle person. He used to be available any time we needed him. We are going to miss him in tough times like when the Constitution is challenged. It is unbelievable that we lost somebody in such tough times.”
