Ajit Nath Ray

New Delhi, Jan. 30: A Bengali with a controversial role as Chief Justice of India during the Emergency had his memorial service held in unprecedented privacy by the Supreme Court last week.

Ajit Nath Ray, who died a “lonely” 99-year-old in Calcutta on December 25, was handpicked as CJI by Indira Gandhi, superseding three seniors in the run-up to the 1975-77 Emergency. In 1976, he was instrumental in a judgment — for which the apex court recently apologised — that suspended citizens’ right to challenge detentions.

The apex court routinely holds memorial functions after the death of its judges or former judges, but Thursday’s was the first to be held behind closed doors. The media and the public were kept out apparently to pre-empt any interruption when the legal fraternity lauded the achievements of Ray and Justice V.B. Eradi, who died on December 30.

Indira Gandhi appointed Ray as CJI ostensibly to promote “forward-looking judges” who recognised the “winds of change”. It prompted a long, countrywide lawyers’ agitation against the perceived attack on judicial independence.

The supersession by Ray was the first such instance in Independent India’s judicial history. He was CJI from April 26, 1973, to January 28, 1977.

The three sidelined judges had earlier declared that Parliament could not amend “the basic structure of the Constitution”. Ray had dissented. The judgment led Indira Gandhi to bring in the 42nd Amendment, giving Parliament a free hand in tailoring the Constitution.

As CJI, Ray, with three other judges on a bench of five, delivered what has been labelled the judiciary’s worst judgment. In the famous ADM Jabalpur case, Ray and Justices M.H. Beg, Y.V. Chandrachud and P.N. Bhagwati held that Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life, stood suspended during the Emergency.

No detainee held under preventive laws such as MISA, therefore, could move any court during the Emergency.

Ray never lived the judgment or the supersession down. “He led a very lonely life after retirement and died a lonely man,” senior counsel Rajiv Dhavan said. At Thursday’s function, lawyer Ram Jethmalani ignored protocol and paid tributes to Eradi, who was junior to Ray, first.

Ray’s other significant judgments, passed before he became CJI, have largely been forgotten, including one upholding press freedom.