Arvind Kanji Mehta
Lovingly known as “Judge Mehta”
8 November 1944 — 30 September 2019 · aged 74
High Court judge, birdwatcher and maker of Nakuru's most dreadful, beloved masala chai
Nakuru, Kenya Born in Nakuru, Nakuru County Resting at Hindu Union cremation ground, NakuruAbout Arvind
Nobody remembers Justice Arvind Mehta raising his voice, which is exactly why everybody remembers the one time he did. A junior advocate had mocked a village witness for not knowing his own age; the judge put down his pen, asked the courtroom to stand and apologise to a man who had walked eleven kilometres to be heard, and then asked the junior to do the same. The court rose. The witness, by all accounts, was too astonished to speak.
Arvind was born in 1944 in Nakuru, above his father's hardware shop on Kenyatta Avenue, and grew up counting nails and weighing sacks of cement. He read law at the University of London, was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1967 and came home to practise in Nakuru because, he said, 'a town you owe is a town you stay in.' After fifteen years as an advocate he served as a magistrate, and in 1992 he was appointed to the High Court of Kenya, where he sat for seventeen years, known for short judgments, long silences and rulings that were almost never overturned.
Off the bench he was a different man: a birdwatcher who could name every flamingo colony on Lake Nakuru by its mood, a middling but passionate cricketer at Nakuru Sports Club, and the maker of a dreadful, much-loved masala chai which he served to lawyers, clerks and once a visiting judge from Uganda in chipped enamel mugs. He married Hansa in 1971 and spoiled her with silence and fresh jalebi on Sundays. He sat on the Nakuru Hindu Union committee for forty years and mentored dozens of young African, Asian and European lawyers without ever distinguishing between them.
Arvind died in Nakuru in September 2019 after a short illness, having finished, the family says, the crossword and his tea. He leaves Hansa, two children and three grandchildren.
“A judgment is only as good as the peace it leaves behind.”
- Faith
- Hindu
- Place of birth
- Nakuru, Nakuru County
- Resting place
- Hindu Union cremation ground, Nakuru
- Passed away
- 30 September 2019, Nakuru
Cremation & prayer meeting
Wednesday, 2 October 2019 at 07:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Bachelor of Laws
University of London1962 – 1965 · London
Studied while working weekends in a Hounslow hardware shop.
Advocate of the High Court
Mehta and Company Advocates1969 – 1984 · Nakuru
Built a practice around land disputes and family law.
Resident Magistrate
Judiciary of Kenya1984 – 1992 · Nakuru
Known for patience with unrepresented litigants.
Judge of the High Court
Judiciary of Kenya1992 – 2009 · Nakuru
Short judgments, long silences and few appeals overturned.
Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear
Republic of Kenya2008 · Nairobi
For distinguished service to the Judiciary.
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Family & connections
Arvind is survived by
- Hansa Mehta· Spouse
- Priya Mehta· Daughter
- Nikhil Mehta· Son
- 3 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Arvind.
Knew Arvind? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- JM
Former pupil and legal secretary
Judge Mehta taught me that kindness is a procedure, not a mood. He wrote every ruling by hand first, to feel the weight of the words. I still do, and every clerk in my office laughs at me. I tell them whose habit it is.
- JK
Birdwatching companion, Lake Nakuru
We walked the lakeshore every first Saturday for twenty-two years. He never once raised binoculars before I did, saying a guest sees first. I will keep the habit going this Saturday, and the one after, and I will pour his tea into the lake grass.
- MS
Cousin, Leicester
Whenever we visited Nakuru, Arvind would wake us before dawn to look for flamingos, then pretend he had not been excited. He kept a notebook of every bird he had seen since 1975. His handwriting was as neat as his judgments. We will carry his gentleness home.
- PK
Court clerk, Nakuru High Court
For seventeen years I carried the judge's files up the stairs. He thanked me every single morning. In a building where many forget the clerks, he remembered my children's names and asked after their exams. We stood when he entered, and I stood a little straighter.
- SP
Fellow member of the Rotary Club of Nakuru
Arvind played cricket at the Sports Club as if each ball were a legal principle: patient, deliberate and rarely hit. He once took six wickets and then apologised to the batsmen. We will miss his chai, however much we complained about it.
- WK
Advocate he mentored
In 1998 a senior counsel told me to go home and learn to cross-examine. Judge Mehta called me to his chambers afterwards and said, 'Ask one question fewer, and mean it.' That sentence made my career. He gave away his best advice, and he never wanted credit.
