Sanjay R Hegde (born 19 July 1965) is a senior advocate at the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

. He is a leading voice for civil rights He was one of the two

amicus curiae An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

appointed by the Supreme Court of India to assist the court in the

2012 Delhi gang rape and murder The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-year ...

. He was appointed as an interlocutor by the

to talk to the protestors at

Shaheen Bagh protest The Shaheen Bagh protest was a peaceful sit-in protest in Delhi, India, that began on 15 December 2019 and lasted until 24 March 2020. The protest was led by women who blocked a major road at Shaheen Bagh using non-violent resistance 24×7. M ...

Early life and education

Sanjay R Hegde was born in

Manipal Manipal is a suburb and university town within Udupi, in coastal Karnataka, India. Manipal is located five kilometres away from the centre of Udupi City, in Udupi District, Karnataka (state) in south western India. It is administered by the Udup ...

. His father was a lawyer practicing at the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

. After completing his class I in Manipal he moved to Mumbai where he studied till class X. After class X, he spent five years in Manipal and completed his B.Com, before moving to Mumbai to study law at KC Law College. He got selected in the

UPSC Civil Service Aptitude Test The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a national competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Se ...

for allied

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

s. He had been a debater and a quizzer during his college days.

Legal career

He started his career as a lawyer in 1989, working at M/s Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe Solicitors. He moved to Delhi to work in the chamber of Senior Advocate G. Ramaswamy, a former

Attorney-General for India The Attorney General for India is the Indian government's chief legal advisor, and is its chief advocate in the courts. They are appointed by the President of India at the instance of the Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution an ...

. He has represented several people who were declared foreigners in the NRC case He writes frequently in major Indian newspapers and magazines and appears as a legal expert on news channels.

Case Against Twitter

On 27 October 2019, Hegde's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account was suspended for posting an anti-authoritarian image. He filed a petition in the

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

against the suspension of his account by Twitter. In its filing before the HC, Government of India has contended that suspension of Hegde's account by Twitter violates law on free speech. Earlier, Government had said that it has nothing to do with Sanjay Hegde's account suspension.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hegde, Sanjay People from Karnataka Living people 1965 births Indian Administrative Service officers Supreme Court of India lawyers