DORAB PATEL
Speaking at a seminar on capital punishment some yeras ago, Justice Dorab Patel publicly regretted that in his tenure as a judge, he had awarded death, he now left that capital punishment should be abolished, given its finality and the possibility of error even in countries with far better criminal justice system than Pakistan's admittedly flawed one. His public admission illustrates the courage of convinction and the principled stand that characterised this dapper, soft-spokent man from a distinguished Parsi family. His principled resolve was most serevely tested when in 1981 he refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order issued by Gen. Ziaul Haq, which deprived the superior judiciary of many of its powers-- even though as second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, he was certain to be the next Chief Justice of Pakistan right from its inception in 1986, he was its first ad hoc chairpersonb, and first regularly elected Chairperson in 1987. He stepped down from this post as required by
the Constitution after a second term, but stayed on as Chairperson Emeritus as request by the Council, until his death in 1998.
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