Former Attorney General for India Soli Sorabjee passed away in New Delhi on Friday morning due to COVID-19. He was 91. According to reports, he passed away at a private hospital in the capital. 

An eminent jurist, Sorabjee’s legal career spanned nearly seventy years. He served as Advocate General of India from 1989-1990 and 1998 to 2004. He was awarded with India’s second highest civilian award - the Padma Vibhushan - in 2002 for his defense of freedom of speech and the protection of human rights. 

Born in Bombay in 1930, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee began his legal practice in 1953 in the Bombay High Court. He was designated senior counsel by the Supreme Court in 1971. A noted human rights lawyer, he was appointed by the United Nations as a Special Rapporteur for Nigeria in 1997. He was appointed to several commissions of the UN. Sorabjee was also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague from 2000 to 2006.

Considered a champion of freedom of speech and expression, Sorabjee authored a number of books including The Laws of Press Censorship in India, The Emergency, Censorship and the Press in India.