Avinash Ganesh Deobhakta (24 November 1936 – 2 September 2015) was a New Zealand lawyer and jurist. He was the first person of Indian origin to be appointed a District Court judge in New Zealand.

Biography

Born on 24 November 1936 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

(then in British India, now in Pakistan), Deobhakta was educated in London, and then returned to Uganda. A lawyer, he rose to become the principal state attorney in the Ugandan Department of Public Prosecutions, and was later a chief magistrate. Following the

expulsion of Asians from Uganda In early August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country. At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent in Ugand ...

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

in 1972, Deobhakta emigrated to New Zealand with his family, and became a naturalised New Zealander in 1978. Settling in Auckland, Deobhakta practised as a barrister sole until his appointment as a District Court judge in 1982. He was the first judge in New Zealand of Indian origin. He was also chair of the Waikeria District Prisons Board, and in 2002 was appointed to the

New Zealand Parole Board The New Zealand Parole Board is an independent statutory body established in 2002 that considers offenders for parole. Its task "is to undertake an assessment of the risk that long-term sentenced offenders might pose to the safety of the communit ...

as a northern region panel convenor. In 1990, Deobhakta was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. He died in Auckland on 2 September 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deobhakta, Avinash 1936 births 2015 deaths People from Lahore 20th-century Ugandan judges Indian emigrants to New Zealand District Court of New Zealand judges 20th-century New Zealand lawyers People from Auckland Naturalised citizens of New Zealand