Career Sidharth Luthra

1 career

1.1 tehelka case
1.2 senior advocate
1.3 justice soumitra sen case
1.4 facebook case
1.5 tenure additional solicitor general
1.6 recent cases
1.7 amicus curiae

career

one of top criminal lawyers in country, luthra has been practicing law on 2 decades. joined bar in 1991 , started working @ bhasin & co practiced civil law. in 1993, started working @ father s chamber continued practicing civil law. taught law @ delhi university in 1996-97.

after father passed away in 1997, luthra reinvented himself criminal lawyer under mentorship of late senior advocate p r vakil , took on father’s practice.

tehelka case

in 2002, luthra represented tehelka magazine before justice venkataswami commission constituted in aftermath of operation west end sting operation. during proceddings of commission cross-examined union defence minister george fernandes.

senior advocate

luthra represented government of india in high court of delhi 2004 2007 senior panel counsel. designated senior advocate, position conferred on merit exceptional lawyers judges of high court, in 2007. moved practice delhi high court supreme court of india in 2010.

justice soumitra sen case

luthra appointed government of india in 2009 counsel assist judges inquiry committee in justice soumitra sen case. committee found justice sen guilty of misbehaviour under article 124(4) (read proviso (b) article 217(1)) of constitution of india.

facebook case

in december 2011, luthra hired facebook criminal trial initiated journalist vinay rai against 21 social networking sites in india including facebook, google , yahoo.

tenure additional solicitor general

in 2012, manmohan singh government appointed luthra post of additional solicitor general (asg). 1 of biggest cases in tenure asg proposed release of 7 convicts in rajiv gandhi assassination case. tamil nadu government had proposed remit sentence of life 7 convicted assassination of rajiv gandhi release them after death penalty commuted sentence of life supreme court in 2014. attorney general of india, late senior advocate goolam essaji vahanvati, solicitor general senior advocate mohan parasaran , luthra swiftly moved writ petition supreme court on behalf of union government challenging power of tamil nadu government remit sentences of convicted sriharan alias murugan , 6 others. remittance put on hold supreme court in later sentence in december 2015, held state government has no suo motu power remit sentences of persons convicted under central law , cases investigated cbi.

luthra represented central bureau of investigation, india, in dr. subramanian swamy vs director, cbi, case in 2013-14 in constitutional validity of section 6a of delhi special police establishment act, 1946 (‘the dspe act’) @ issue. constitution bench comprising chief justice r.m. lodha , justices a.k. patnaik, s j mukhopadhaya, dipak misra , f m ibrahim kalifulla held section 6a of dspe act granted protection joint secretary , above officers facing preliminary inquiry cbi in corruption cases, violative of article 14 of consititution , constitutionally invalid, decision welcomed cbi.

recent cases

luthra represented whatsapp in public interest litigation case filed against in september 2016 in delhi high court 2 students regarding new privacy policy.

luthra representing union minister of finance arun jaitley in criminal defamation lawsuit filed him against chief minister of delhi, arvind kejriwal. arun jaitley has filed civil defamation case against arvind kejriwal. supreme court in november 2016 declined kejriwal’s appeal stay criminal defamation proceedings.

in 2016, luthra represented chief minister of andhra pradesh, mr. n. chandrababu naidu in 2015 cash vote scam case. on 9 december 2016, hyderabad high court set aside order passed special anti-corruption bureau (acb) court directed telangana anti-corruption bureau conduct probe mr naidu s role in cash vote scam case.

luthra served special public prosecuter in nirbhaya gang rape case. final verdict on case delivered supreme court on 5 may 2017, upheld death sentence 4 convicts sentenced death trial court in september 2013.

as amicus curiae

in addition litigation work, luthra assisting supreme court of india amicus curiae in matter of criminalisation of politics due heard constitution bench of supreme court. said matter referred constitution bench of supreme court bench comprising justices k sikri , r k agrawal examining appeal filed uttar pradesh government challenging allahabad high court order constituting committee of eminent persons suggest ways , means check criminalization of politics. luthra told bench police , central bureau of investigation should made immune political influence criminal trials against politicians can expedited.