Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar is a retired Indian jurist, best understood as a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a state-level anti-corruption ombudsman. Born on June 29, 1943, he belongs to a third-generation family of lawyers from Jabalpur. His judicial career began with his elevation as a permanent Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on June 15, 1992, followed by his appointment as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court from 2002 to 2004.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on July 28, 2004, retiring on June 29, 2008. During his tenure, he was part of the Bench that confirmed the death penalty for Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru in 2005. He also authored the significant judgment in Eastern Book Company v D B Modak (2007), which established that while raw judicial opinions are public domain, the editorial additions like headnotes and cross-references by a publisher could be protected by copyright. A Bench including him also heard an appeal concerning Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, holding that a High Court could not dismiss a constitutional challenge merely because it was framed in the abstract.
After his retirement, he served as the Lokayukta (parliamentary ombudsman) of Madhya Pradesh from June 2009 to June 2016, investigating corruption allegations against public officials. His term as Lokayukta was extended after the state government amended the MP Lokayukta and Up Lokayukta Act, 1981. More recently, he was named chairman of a High-Level Committee constituted by the Union Home Minister to analyze patterns of infiltration and unnatural demographic changes.