B-town mourns demise of veteran lawyer Ram Jethmal

Passing away of veteran criminal lawyer and Union law minister Ram Jethmal led to an outpouring of emotions from Bollywood celebrities who took to social media to pay their respect and mourn the demise of the lawyer.

Jethmal, who was 95, passed away on Sunday in the national capital.

Ace filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt who took inspiration from the lawyer paid tribute on his Twitter handle. "Even the sky must learn to say goodbye to the stars. I thank you, sir, for touching my life. Ram Jethmal passes away at 95," he wrote.

Farhan Akhtar who is gearing up for the world premiere of his upcoming film 'The Sky is Pink' at Toronto, recalled the time spent with the lawyer.

"RIP #RamJethmal ji. The time spent in conversation with you has always remained etched fondly in my memory. Condolences to the family," he tweeted.

Soha Ali Khan shared a picture with the "conscience keeper of collective India" along with husband and actor Kunal Khemmu on Instagram and wrote, "Today, we have lost more than a brilliant lawyer, a maverick and a rebel. We have lost the conscience keeper of collective India. Ram Jethmal's unusual moral courage and curious legal mind has been a rare gift to independent India. Personally, he was very gracious to me and put me at ease at once with his irreverent humour - I will miss him greatly and in this I am far from alone."

"Growing up, no matter where you were in India when one learnt of law as a profession, the one name you learnt of that personified it, was Ram Jethmal. A great man leaves behind a legacy urban folklore is made of. Salute him for his indelible work. #RIPRamJethmal," wrote Nimrat Kaur while saluting the eminent lawyer for his great works and achievements in his profession.

Jethmal became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1988 and later served as the law minister and the urban development minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet. He had also been the chairman of the Bar Council of India.

One of the highest-paid lawyers, he had announced his retirement in September 2017.He is survived by his son Mahesh Jethmal and a daughter.

( With inputs from ANI )