Siraj Mehfuz Daud
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Siraj Mehfuz Daud, or S.M. Daud (1 January 1931 – 10 May 2010) was a lawyer who became a judge in the high court of
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
, India. After retirement he participated in several tribunals investigating human rights problems.


Career

Siraj Mehfuz Daud was born on 1 January 1931. He attended
Nagpur University Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), formerly Nagpur University, is a public state university located in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of India's oldest universities, as well as the second-oldest in Maharashtra. It is named ...
earning an M.A. in Political Science. He then obtained an LL.B. degree and served as a district pleader in Nagpur from 1951 to 1954. In September 1954 Daud became a Civil Judge, Junior Division and a Judicial Magistrate First Class at
Amravati Amravati (/Marathi phonology, əmᵊɾɑʋᵊt̪iː/) is a city in Maharashtra located in the Vidarbha region. It is the ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India & second largest city in the Vidarbha region in terms of population. It is the ...
in the
Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the west Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Forming the eastern part of the state, it comprises Amravati Division, Amrav ...
region. In February 1968 he was promoted to Assistant Judge. In August 1974 he was promoted to District Judge, and in January 1982 he became a Selection Grade District Judge. He also worked for the Government of Maharashtra as Deputy and Joint Secretary in the Mantralaya Law & Judicial Department. He was Registrar of the high court of Bombay from December 1982 to July 1985, when he was appointed to the bench of the high court, serving until January 1993.


Post-retirement

After retiring, Justice Daud became a Senior Advocate working in the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
.
Hosbet Suresh Hosbet Suresh (20 July 1929 – 11 June 2020) was a judge of the Bombay High Court who led a number of commissions that investigated violations of human rights. Formal career Suresh was born in Hosabettu, Surathkal, Karnataka on 20 July 1929. ...
and Daud were appointed to investigate the Bombay riots that had taken place in December 1992 and January 1993, publishing their findings in a 1995 report titled ''The People's Verdict''. Daud headed an
Indian People's Tribunal The Indian People's Tribunal (IPT), also called the Indian People's Tribunal on Environmental and Human Rights or Independent People's Tribunal, was a People's Tribunal set up by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) on 5 June 1993. The IPT is an ...
Enquiry into the Proposed Maroli-Umbergaon Port Project (Gujarat), issuing a report in April 2000. He served on a tribunal of the International Human Rights Commission that inquired into communal rioting and other disturbance in Mumbai in 1992-93. After conducting this inquiry, S.M. Daud was invited to speak at a meeting of Muslims and social workers in September 2001. Rather than talk about the
Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...
and the police, who had been indicted in his report, he took the opportunity to harshly criticize his audience for complaining about abuses they had suffered but failing to speak out against abuses against other oppressed communities such as Dalits and Christians. The
Sardar Sarovar Dam The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River near the town of Kevadiya, in Narmada District, in the Indian state of Gujarat. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to the Indian states of Guj ...
project on the
Narmada River The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...
in
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
was highly controversial, involving displacement of many people. In 1994 S.M. Daud visited the area and wrote a report for the
Indian People's Tribunal The Indian People's Tribunal (IPT), also called the Indian People's Tribunal on Environmental and Human Rights or Independent People's Tribunal, was a People's Tribunal set up by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) on 5 June 1993. The IPT is an ...
. He described the indiscriminate arrests, beatings, confinements and prohibitory orders to which local opponents of the project were being subjected. He warned that unless these abuses ceased the victims could take to arms. He participated with retired justices Rajendra Sachar and
Hosbet Suresh Hosbet Suresh (20 July 1929 – 11 June 2020) was a judge of the Bombay High Court who led a number of commissions that investigated violations of human rights. Formal career Suresh was born in Hosabettu, Surathkal, Karnataka on 20 July 1929. ...
in an investigation by the Indian People's Human Rights Tribunal into a massive
slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
drive in Mumbai, with the ostensible purpose of preserving the
Sanjay Gandhi National Park Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a national park in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali. The 2400-year-old Kanheri caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basaltic cliffs, lie within the ...
. In August 2000 the judges, joined by former Supreme Court judge
V. R. Krishna Iyer Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer (15 November 1914 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and ...
, held a two-day hearing into the clearances in which about 60,000 people had been evicted. The inquiry covered both legal aspects of the clearances and the human impact. In March 2002, at the ceremony where the 21st journalism for human rights award was presented by the
People's Union for Civil Liberties People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by Jayaprakash Narayan, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR). Background Indian emergency Jayaprakash Narayan was ...
, S.M. Daud criticized the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
for wrongly convicting writer and activist
Arundhati Roy Suzanna Arundhati Roy (; born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. ...
. He said that in a democracy all institutions should be open for criticism including the Supreme Court. Roy had been charged with contempt by the Supreme Court after organizing a demonstration against a court decision that removed obstacles to raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam.


References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daud, Siraj Mehfuz 1931 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Indian Muslims Judges of the Bombay High Court Scholars from Nagpur 20th-century Indian judges