File photo of Mukul Sinha

Mukul Sinha, a Gujarat High Court lawyer who had made a name for himself fighting cases on behalf of the victims of riots that tore through the state in 2002, passed away in Ahmedabad today. He was 63.He had been diagnosed with lung cancer about a year ago, and had been under medical treatment since then. He was admitted to a private hospital in Ahmedabad last night after his condition deteriorated suddenly, and he breathed his last today. He is survived by his wife and a son.A Physics graduate from IIT, Kanpur, Mr Sinha had emerged as one the fiercest critics of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his governance model. He had floated an outfit, the Jan Sangharsh Manch, which championed the cause of not only the riot victims, but also those sections of the society which he felt had been bypassed by the state government.Mr Sinha was very active on the social networking sites, and his posts invariably highlighted what he described as the alleged highhandedness of the state administration and the falsehood being spread by it.

His body has been kept in his residence to enable his followers to pay their last respects. It will be shifted back to the hospital later in the evening. The civil rights activist had pledged to donate the organs of his body after his death.