Justice Dorab Patel (b.1924 Quetta^[1] - d.15 March 1997 ), former Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, former Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan and human rights campaigner was a founding member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in 1987 and the co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

A Parsee by faith, he rose up the ranks of the judiciary to become one of Pakistan's most senior most judges, only to resign on principle after refusing to take an oath of allegiance to Military ruler Zia ul Haq in 1981.

Justice Patel died of leukemia.^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Judicial career 3 Important Decisions 4 References 5 Published Work 6 External links

[edit] Early life

He attended various boarding schools before graduating from Bombay University and obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the London School of Economics. He was called to the bar from Lincoln’s Inn and began practising law in Karachi in the early 1950s.

[edit] Judicial career

He was elected secretary of the High Court Bar in 1964 and was raised to the bench of the then West Pakistan High Court in 1967. Justice Patel was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1976.

On March 24, 1981, General Zia ul Haq issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and asked the Justices of High Courts and Supreme Court to take oath on it. Justice Patel refused to take oath and resigned.^[1] Had Justice Patel not resigned, he would have become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After resignation from the Supreme Court, he devoted the rest of his life to waging a crusade for the rights of the oppressed and downtrodden. In 1990, he became the second Pakistani to be elected a member of the exclusive International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

[edit] Important Decisions

• Justice Patel was in minority in a split decision of 4-3 that upheld the decision of Lahore High Court that handed down death penalty to former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/1997vol07no04/300/

[edit] Published Work

• Pakistan Mein Aamriat Aur Jajoon Ka Kirdar by

Dorab Patel Translated by Naeemullah Malik

• Testament of a Liberal (Jinnah Papers) (Paperback)

by Dorab Patel

[edit] External links

• PAKISTAN: Dorab Patel’s Second by Beena Sarwar