Anand Grover is a senior lawyer known for legal activism in Indian law relating to

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

. Along with his wife Indira Jaising, he is a founder-member of the Lawyers Collective. He was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health from August 2008 to July 2014. He is currently and acting member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Notable cases

With the Lawyers Collective Grover led the Naz Foundation's legal case for the repeal of

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many forme ...

, which was a law criminalizing homosexuality in India. Grover led the Lawyers Collective court case against

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

regarding an interpretation of

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...

which would determine the patent status of antiretroviral drugs in India. The result of the case was that the Lawyers Collective prevailed and certain drugs became ineligible for patenting, thus keeping the price of the medications in line with generic medication costs. Grover represented the Cancer Patients Aid Association as an attorney and won the legal fight against drug maker Novartis on the issue of patent of cancer drug Glivec. On the night before Yakub Memon was scheduled to be executed, Anand Grover along with other senior lawyers of the Supreme Court, sought appointment from the Chief Justice of India, H. L. Dattu at his residence. After the Chief Justice constituted a 3 Judge bench, Grover argued for the mandatory 14-day period between the rejection of the mercy plea of a condemned prisoner, and the execution of the death warrant, as per the guidelines set by the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

in the Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India case. Grover argued that an earlier mercy petition submitted to the President was by his brother, and that since all the legal remedies available to the prisoner, including a curative petition, stood exhausted only a day before his scheduled hanging, only the final mercy petition submitted by Yakub himself must be taken into account while evaluating upon the 14-day period. However the Supreme Court rejected the argument noting that Yakub had not disowned the earlier mercy petition by his brother. The bench commented that delaying Yakub's hanging anymore would amount to travesty of justice. Grover expressed disappointment and unhappiness over the judgement and termed it as a tragic mistake. Grover represented Shreya Tripathi in her successful efforts to obtain bedaquiline for the treatment of her extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

United Nations work

Grover is a member of the

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...

Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights and a Special Rapporteur in the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

. His duty in this position is to promote the right to physical and mental health.

References

External links

Court report from result of Article 377 trial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grover, Anand 20th-century Indian lawyers HIV/AIDS activists United Nations special rapporteurs Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Indian officials of the United Nations Senior Advocates in India Supreme Court of India lawyers