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The Noorani Records, a postulation of essays by renowned lawyer and Constitutional adept A.G. Noorani (1930–2024), brought retired arsenic a peculiar work by Frontline of The Hindu Group, was launched successful Chennai connected Tuesday (November 11, 2025).
The archetypal fewer copies of the publication were presented to Justice K. Chandru and Justice Prabha Sridevan, erstwhile judges of the Madras High Court, by N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, astatine the newspaper’s caput bureau connected Anna Salai.
Speaking astatine the launch, Justice Chandru said Mr. Noorani’s writings were not conscionable from a ineligible constituent of presumption but besides from the position of a communal reader. He noted Mr. Noorani could explicate analyzable ineligible issues successful elemental terms.
Referring to an nonfiction by Mr. Noorani connected the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Mahatma Gandhi, helium suggested it should beryllium shared with schoolhouse students to “expose the hypocrisy and diabolical quality of the RSS” and assistance antagonistic attempts to distort history. He besides recalled that the Kerala authorities had distributed the archetypal leafage of the Preamble to the Constitution to schoolhouse students astatine the commencement of the world twelvemonth to emphasise Constitutional values.
‘This publication volition marque a difference’
Recalling Mr. Noorani’s earlier enactment Indian Political Trials 1775–1947, Justice Chandru said it was an eye-opener. He referred to the proceedings of the Ali brothers during the Khilafat Movement, which took spot successful the Karachi Chief Magistrate’s Court. He said the Ali brothers were accused arsenic A1 and A2, and the sixth accused was the Puri Shankaracharya. Mr. Noorani had documented the Shankaracharya’s connection earlier the court, successful which helium spoke astir Hindu–Muslim unity. The Shankaracharya was aboriginal acquitted.
Justice Sridevan said 1 would often wonderment if a publication could alteration radical and she had been reasoning astir it for months. She said this publication would marque a difference. Lawyers indispensable larn however to look astatine issues and articulate them clearly, she added.
Mr. Ram said helium started pursuing Mr. Noorani erstwhile helium was penning for regular newspapers. Describing Mr. Noorani arsenic a combatant who would ever request abstraction for his view, helium said Mr. Noorani had stopped penning for newspapers due to the fact that of word-length restrictions. Recalling his relation with Mr. Noorani erstwhile helium was the Editor of Frontline in 1990, Mr. Ram said Mr. Noorani contributed articles connected a wide scope of subjects to the magazine.
Mr. Noorani would handwrite his articles, which were past faxed, transcribed, and sent backmost to him for proofreading. Later, Mr. Noorani engaged his ain typist and ne'er missed deadlines and maintained cleanable connection length, overmuch similar different prolific columnist E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Mr. Ram said.
‘Eminent jurist’
Sharing an anecdote, Mr. Ram said Mr. Noorani utilized to entity to immoderate editorial changes made to his copy. Once, successful an nonfiction connected the bound question, Mr. Noorani had utilized the word “Chinese aggression”. To marque it dependable much balanced, Mr. Ram had changed it to “India–China bound conflict”. Mr. Noorani had initially complained but aboriginal accepted the alteration erstwhile Mr. Ram explained that some sides had their claims.
In her introductory remarks, Vaishna Roy, Editor, Frontline, hailed Mr. Noorani arsenic an eminent jurist, profoundly intelligence and erudite, who brought a large extent of learning to everything helium wrote for Frontline, yet could contiguous cogent and lucid arguments that reached a wide scope of readers.
The book, brought retired connected the archetypal day of Mr. Noorani’s passing, features a curated enactment of his outstanding and wide-ranging columns written for the mag implicit the years. The publication is priced astatine ₹699, with a peculiar motorboat connection of ₹499 disposable till November 16. The publication tin beryllium purchased astatine The Hindu’s online bookstore at: https://publications.thehindugroup.com/bookstore/
