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The hopes of grappler Vinesh Phogat and a billion Indians rest upon the shoulders of top lawyer Harish Salve, who is set to fight the wrestler's Paris Olympics disqualification case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
A former Solicitor General of India and King's Counsel, Salve has a stellar record of handling high-profile cases -- ranging from defending Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav at the International Court of Justice to representing Ratan Tata in his battle against Cyrus Mistry. He also served as the defence attorney in the high-profile Aarushi-Hemraj case.
Vinesh Phogat, who became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final, was disqualified by the organisers after being found 100 gms overweight ahead of her gold medal match on Wednesday. She later announced her retirement from wrestling in a heartbreaking post on Thursday.
Phogat moved the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her disqualification and demanded a joint silver be awarded to her.
One of India's prominent lawyers, Harish Salve, was born in Maharashtra and completed his law at Nagpur University. He served as a senior advocate at the Delhi High Court in 1992 before being appointed as the Solicitor General of India in November 1999.
Salve, the son of former minister and ex-cricket administrator NKP Salve, was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2015. In January last year, he was appointed as the Queen's Counsel for the courts of Wales and England. Some of his top clients include the Tata Group and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.
In recent years, Harish Salve has been in several high-profile cases:
Kulbhushan Jadhav case: In 2016, Indian businessman Kulbhushan Yadav was abducted from the Iran-Pakistan border. The Pakistani government accused him of being a spy and a military court sentenced him to death.
In 2017, Harish Salve represented India before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and his strong arguments led to a provisional stay order on Jadhav's death sentence. Interestingly, he only charged Re 1 as his legal fee.
Ram temple dispute: Salve was also among the lawyers who represented the Hindu side in the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute. In 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed Ayodhya site.
Tata Sons vs Cyrus Mistry: In 2016, Harish Salve represented Tata Sons in the Supreme Court. His deft arguments and legal strategy saw the court upholding the Tata Group's decision to remove Cyrus Mistry as executive chairperson of Tata Sons.
