Calcutta’s legal eagle

It is a brief that would probably earn the envy of other lawyers in Calcutta: representing the Birlas against R. S. Lodha in the fierce testamentary battle, reports Hindustan Times (HT) of December 3, 2006. But Bombay born Yezbezard Jehangir Dastoor wears his legal laurels lightly. An LLB from Bombay’s Government Law College, Dastoor joined the chambers of Balai Ray, now the advocate general of West Bengal. "One of my brothers-in-chambers became a High Court judge and another the state law minister,” Dastoor adds.

Dastoor began his career by giving free advice to Calcutta’s sex workers for protecting their children’s rights, according to the report. Specializing in criminal law, he has appeared in eight death reference cases at the Calcutta High Court and got acquittals in seven of them while one case was sent back to the trials court. Though he does not believe in abolition, Dastoor feels that there should be expeditious implementation of death penalties. "Since the law provides for the death penalty, it must be awarded in appropriate cases of mass murders and terrorism… Delay in disposal of appeal and mercy petition amount to double sentencing,” he told HT.

The country’s criminal justice system needs an infusion of fresh blood, and categorization of all cases into two clear streams — civil and criminal — the lawyer believes.