Majeed Memon's front-row seat to Mumbai’s iconic legal battles

Senior counsel Majeed Memon reflects on Mumbai’s most high-profile legal cases in his autobiography, ‘My Memoirs’

MUMBAI: Known for his bold choices, he built a reputation for tackling serious, often controversial cases – and emerging victorious “80% of the time”. Now senior advocate and former MP Majeed Memon is about to release his autobiography titled ‘My Memoirs’. It includes little-known details of cases – hold your breath! – such as the Mumbai serial bomb blast case of 1993, music director Gulshan Kumar murder case, Ghatkopar blast case, and the Sanjay Dutt trial in the 1993 bomb blast case. And, these are only some of the 24 cases Memon has included in his book, which covers a career of over five decades.

Mumbai, India. Jan 17, 2025: Senior lawyer Majeed Memon`s book cover. Mumbai, India. Jan 17, 2025. (Photo by HT Photo)

The 284-page book reveals how Memon represented Nadeem Akhtar Saifi, one half of the famous Nadeem-Shravan composer-duo, in the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom. Nadeem, accused of conspiring to kill Gulshan Kumar by hiring the services of gangster Abu Salem from Dubai, was acquitted.

“At the time of the murder, Nadeem was in London as his wife was undergoing medical treatment and the Indian government had initiated extradition proceedings against him. (…) The justices held in their verdict that the claims made by the Mumbai police were false and without any substance,” the book noted.

Memon says he made 23 trips to London to defend Nadeem during the hearings. “The bench also ordered the Union of India to pay 9,20,000 British pounds to Nadeem, towards the cost of litigation incurred by him for his high-profile defence advocates…” the book adds.

“The court passed varying terms of imprisonment including life imprisonment to many other accused. I must mention here that my contentions for the two women, Hanifa and Raheen, mother and wife respectively of Yakub Memon, were upheld by the court and it was also pleased to acquit both the women,” the book pointed out. Memon told Hindustan Times that 80% of the 40 individuals he represented in the case were acquitted, including members of the Memon family.

The book also discusses how Memon secured bail for Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who was arrested for possessing arms in the same serial blasts case of 1993. “Getting bail for Sanjay Dutt was quite a challenge. When I studied TADA (P) Act in depth, I came to understand that under the Act there was a mandatory requirement of periodic review by a review committee. However, this requirement was conveniently ignored by the trial court. I decided to take advantage of the provision and approached the High Court, which was quick enough to appreciate my point and referred the matter to the review committee… The review report recommended that twelve accused who had not participated in actual blasts but were participants in lesser offenses could be released on bail,” the book said.

Memon shares a treasured memory. “I was the second person after Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray whose feet Sanjay Dutt touched after his release on bail. His father Sunil Dutt was the third person,” Memon recalled.

The senior advocate said he was dismayed at the deteriorating judicial system. “The constitutional command for the state and administration is to provide inexpensive and speedy justice, in which we have failed.”

Asked to comment on former chief justice of India Ranjay Gogoi becoming a Rajya Sabha member and then Chief Justice of India Dhananjay Chandrachud inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his home for Ganpati Darshan, Memon said these incidents were unfortunate. “There has to be distance between the executive and the judiciary. If this distance is blurred, there is no independence left in either the executive or the judiciary.”