New Delhi, Nov. 14 -- The Emergency of 1975 was one of the darkest periods in Indian democracy. It was also a time when many public figures chose to crawl, even when they were only asked to bend. One man who chose to stand up was eminent jurist Fali Sam Nariman. On 26 June 1975, a day after the Emergency was declared, the 46-year-old lawyer resigned as Additional Solicitor General of India in protest against the suspension of fundamental rights.

The man who became such a staunch defender of constitutional democracy had begun his career under very different circumstances. Born on 10 January 1929 in Rangoon into a Parsi Zoroastrian family, he had a comfortable childhood, describing himself in his autobiography as a "rather spoilt child" fo...