Ashok Arora

Ashok Arora is the secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (India) and a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court of India. He was the elected Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association from 2001-2002 & 2002-2003 and was elected the secretary of New Delhi Bar Association from 1989-1990 and 1993-1994. Advocate Ashok Arora was elected Secretary Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) of India for the third time on Dec 12, 2019.He is also an author of articles and books and a social activist. Ex-Law Minister of India and former member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Mr. Ram Jethmalani called him the Buddha of the twenty-first century.

Ashok Arora was born in Delhi, India. He graduated from the Hindu College, at the University of Delhi from 1973-76. He studied law at the Campus Law centre, Faculty of Law in Delhi from 1976-79. He attended the Harvard Summer School in 2014 and also the Oxford summer school. He has a career that spanned thirty-eight years in the office of litigation practice, teaching, motivation, personality development, stress management, and communication skills.

In the year 1979 many legal luminaries of the country advised to the then President of India Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy not to act upon the advice given by the then Prime Minister of India for the dissolution of parliament. He advised the President to ignore the opinion of those legal luminaries to dissolve the house and this is what happened. He was much in the news when the trial court judge in India acquitted the accused in Jessica Lal’s sensational murder case. He mentioned to the then Chief Justice of India that the trial judge who acquitted the accused should not be promoted. He said that the judgment was motivated. His opinion created an atmosphere of nationwide protests. The two judges of the Delhi High Court who decided the appeal filed by the state confirmed his opinion. The supreme court of India confirmed the conviction of the accused persons and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Similarly he boldly criticized the acquittal of the accused persons in the sensational murder case of the famous journalist Shivani Bhatnagar.

When former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was acquitted in the Lakhubhai Pathak case, Ashok Arora, Chandraswami's counsel stated that the judiciary is protecting an accused. The former PM was charged with forgery for helping a controversial godman extract $100,000 from Mr Pathak in 1984, by promising a contract for the supply of newsprint and paper pulp in India.

Ashok Arora was the counsel offormer Lok Sabha Speaker and Union minister Balram Jakhar when a Delhi court framed charges against former Lok Sabha Speaker and Union minister Balram Jakhar and four others in the Rs 65-crore hawala case.

He represented companies such as Tatas, Birlas, Reliance, Hindujas, American Express Bank, Motorola, Apollo, union ministers, governors and chief ministers in important matters. He also had the occasion to cross-examine well known lawyer Ram Jethmalani in a number of hearings. He had been on the list of panel lawyers of the U.S.Embassy, British High Commission, German and other embassies. He helped the release of more than one thousand poor prisoners languishing in jail for petty offenses.

He argued for the summoning of a former Prime Minister of India in a criminal matter.

He advocated against death sentence. He successfully argued in the Supreme Court for commuting of death sentence of a young man accused of a triple murder in a case where Delhi High court had confirmed the death sentence. He successfully argued before the constitution bench of Supreme Court of India to not to interfere with freedom of speech of press in reporting court proceedings

He criticized the judgment of the constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India, which wrongly interpreted Art- 105 of the Constitution of India, which said that members of parliament were immune from prosecution even if they take a bribe in the process of saying anything in the parliament. In gas connection scam he argued that the members of parliament whose quota was misused were the culprits.

In the year 1984, he went on an indefinite hunger strike and after eighty four hours of his fast, the high court of Delhi implemented the process of bifurcation of courts with an aim to provide justice at the doorstep. He opposed the lawyers’ strike, which according to him was anti-litigant, especially considering the poor prisoners languishing in jail.

Ashok Arora composed his first book titled “Simple Tips for Sure Shot Success” with an intention to help students transition into complete human beings able to succeed in life. He was felicitated by the Chief Justice of India for this work during a Law Day function held in Supreme Court on 26th November 2009. He authored another book titled ‘Meet Your Soul’. The book emphasized on a simple route for a stress free & successful life, where he talked about the ‘law of impermanence’, which reminds us of the futility of insane accumulation of material possessions. The book gives an overview of an ideal world where resources are spent on nuclear arms race are utilized for the benefit of needy children. He was felicitated by the Law Minister & Chief justice of India for this work during a Law Day function held in Supreme Court on 26th November 2011. He shared his experience of more than three decades of dealing with matrimonial cases in his book, ‘A Guide to Man Woman Relationship”.

Mr. Arora produced & directed a film titled, “Kasoor Kiska”, which was approved by the Central Board of Film Certification. It’s a film aimed at motivating youth to participate in nation building and serve humanity. It also deals with the counseling of rape survivors and the sensitizing of society towards such survivors.

In recognition of achievements in the field of law and service to society, he was bestowed with awards by different Bar Associations, Central Jail, Social Organizations and Law universities.