V. R. Krishna Iyer
| Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 November 1915 Palakkad, Malabar district, Madras Presidency |
| Died | 4 December 2014 (aged 99) Kochi, Kerala, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Residence | Ernakulam |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Autobiography | Wandering in Many Worlds |
Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge and minister who reformed the Indian criminal justice system, stood up for the poor and the underprivileged, especially, and remained a human-rights champion, a crusader for social justice and the environment, and a doyen of civil liberties, throughout life. Also a sports enthusiast and a prolific author, he was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Ayyar Krishna Iyer was born at Palakkad, in the Malabar region of the then Madras State. He studied law from Madras, practising at Thalassery, Malabar. In 1948, when he protested against torture by the police as an interrogation method, he was imprisoned for a month on a fabricated charge of giving legal assistance to communists.
He was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1952, from Thalassery as a non-party, independent candidate. He became minister of law, justice, home, irrigation, power, prisons, social welfare and inland navigation in the first communist government in Kerala headed by E. M. S. Namboodiripad that came to power in 1957. He initiated legal aid to the poor, jail reforms incorporating the rights of prisoners, and set up more courts and rescue homes for women and children. He got several worker and peasant orientated laws passed. He resumed legal practice in August 1959. He lost the 1965 assembly election, which he again contested as an independent candidate.
He was appointed a judge of the Kerala High Court on 2 July 1968. He was a member of the Law Commission from 1971 to 1973 where he drafted a comprehensive report, which would lead to the legal-aid movement in the country. He was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court on 17 July 1973.
In June 1975, the Allahabad High Court had unseated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the Lok Sabha and barred her from it for another six years. Hearing a challenge to this order in the Supreme Court, he was both blamed for granting a conditional stay and praised for refusing an unconditional stay. Interpreting this as losing the popular mandate to rule, the Opposition called for her resignation. The next day she declared a state of Emergency in the country.
A thinker ahead of his time, he would go on to write landmark judgments:
"Dogs may bark, but the caravan (of justice) passes by"
paraphrasing an immemorial Arab proverb.
He made bail conditions humane and directed the government to provide free legal-aid to detainess in prisons facing charges, once ruling that:
"Bail is the rule, and jail, the exception"
...
Wikipedia