CNA news channel reported that Ravi’s friends confirmed his death today, with the cause of death yet to be disclosed.
Born in 1969, Ravi was a lawyer for more than 25 years. He graduated from the National University of Singapore and Cardiff University before being called to the Bar in 1996, according to the Encyclopaedia of Singapore Tamils.
He published an autobiography, Kampong Boy, in 2013, which was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2014.
In 2015, Ravi ran in Singapore’s general election as part of a Reform Party team contesting Ang Mo Kio GRC.
Ravi founded his own law firm, M Ravi Law, in 2019. Besides supporting the abolition of the death penalty, he was also an advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
He was recognised in 2023 by the International Bar Association for his human rights work, particularly his advocacy for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and abolition of the death penalty in Singapore.
Among others, Ravi assisted in the case of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Malaysian man who was executed in April 2022 for smuggling 42.7gm of heroin into the city-state.
Most recently, he advocated for K Datchinamurthy, who was executed in Singapore on Sept 25 this year for smuggling 44.96g of diamorphine.
Ravi battled bipolar disorder, which played some part in several brushes with the law. He was fined for disorderly behaviour in 2004 and given a mandatory treatment order to address the disorder in 2018.
In 2023, he was suspended from practising law for five years for “making grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct” against Singapore’s attorney-general, officers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Law Society of Singapore.
Ravi was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail for a string of offences in 2024, and finally disbarred in May 2024 by Singapore’s High Court following an application made by the Law Society over statements he made about former president Halimah Yacob.
Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam praised Ravi for his firm dedication to fighting in court for what he believed in and said he was a man dedicated to his pro bono work.
“He deeply cared for his clients. He was a friend and he will be deeply missed by all in the legal fraternity,” he said.