V. R. Krishna Iyer: Difference between revisions

| name honorific_prefix = [[Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer(title)|Justice]]

| birth_date = {{birthBirth date|df=yes|19151914|11|15}}

| birth_place = [[Palakkad district|Palghat]], [[Malabar District]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]<br>(present day [[Palakkad district|Palakkad]], [[Kerala]], India)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|12|04|19151914|11|15|df=yyes}}

| death_place = [[Kochi]], [[Ernakulam district|Ernakulam]], [[Kerala]], India

| nationality = [[IndiaIndian people|Indian]]n

| residencespouse = [[Kochi]],{{Marriage| KeralaSarada|1941|1974|end=died}}

'''[[Justice (title)|Justice]] Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer''' (15 November 19151914 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.livelaw.in/v-r-krishna-iyer-super-judge/|title=V.R. Krishna Iyer – The Super Judge (1st VRK Memorial Lecture by Fali Nariman)|date=2016-10-28|work=Live Law|access-date=2017-08-06}}</ref> who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the [[Legal aid|legal-aid]] movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and politician.

As an activist lawyer, he served jail terms for the cause of his poor and underprivileged clients.<ref>{{cite news|title=A voice for the poor and deprived fades away|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/vr-krishna-iyer-19152014/article6662417.ece|access-date=6 December 2014|work=The Hindu(Kochi Bureau)|date=4 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="express1">{{cite news|last1=Philip|first1=Shaju|title=Former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer dead|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/2230652former-supreme-court-judge-and-renowned-legal-luminary-v-r-krishna-iyer/|access-date=6 December 2014|publisher=The Indian Express (Thiruvananthapuram)|date=5 December 2014}}</ref> He was seen as an ardent human-rights activist.<ref name="Singapore">{{Cite journal|last1=Dam|first1=Shubhankar|title=Criminal Rights and Constitutional Wrongs: A View from India (page 718)|journal=Singapore Academy of Law Journal|publisher=(2013) 25 SAcLJ|pages=714–735|url=http://www.sal.org.sg/digitallibrary/Lists/SAL%20Journal/Attachments/652/%282013%29%2025%20SAcLJ%20714-735%20%28Shubhankar%20Dam%29.pdf#page=5|access-date=8 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219134514/http://www.sal.org.sg/digitallibrary/Lists/SAL%20Journal/Attachments/652/%282013%29%2025%20SAcLJ%20714-735%20%28Shubhankar%20Dam%29.pdf#page=5|archive-date=19 December 2014}}</ref> In addition, he campaigned for social justice and the environment.<ref name="Preston">{{cite web|url=http://www.lec.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/prestoncj%20krishna%20iyer%20j%20paper%20for%20festschrift.pdf|title=A précis of Justice Krishna Iyer 's contribution to the environmental jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of India|last1=Preston|first1=Hon. Justice Brian J|date=5 August 2013|website=The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Australia|access-date=7 December 2014}}</ref> A sports enthusiast and a prolific author,<ref name="many lives">{{cite news|title=The Many Lives of Justice Krishna Iyer|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/The-Many-Lives-of-Justice-Krishna-Iyer/2014/12/05/article2556197.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223093400/http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/The-Many-Lives-of-Justice-Krishna-Iyer/2014/12/05/article2556197.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 December 2014|access-date=8 December 2014|work=The Indian Express|agency=(News Bureau)|date=5 December 2014}}</ref> he was conferred with the [[Padma Vibhushan]] in 1999. His judgements continue to be cited in the higher judiciary.

Vaidyanathapuram Rama Ayyar Krishna Iyer was born in a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] [[brahminBrahmin]] family<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-12-04|title=Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer passes away|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/445593/justice-vrkrishna-iyer-passes-away.html|access-date=2022-01-15|website=Deccan Herald|language=en}}</ref> on 15 November 19151914 in Vaidyanathapuram village in [[Palakkad]], which was the part of the then [[Malabar region]] of the then [[Madras]] State, to a lawyer father, named Rama Iyer, and a mother named Narayani Ammal. He was the eldest among the seven children born to his parents, among whom, the youngest, [[V. R. Lakshminarayanan]], served as the [[Director General of Police]] in [[Tamil Nadu Police]]. He inherited from his father the qualities of taking an avid interest in the community around and using the law for the benefit of those more in need.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305617907|title=Balancing Power: Analysing Socially Transformative Jurisprudence of VR Krishna Iyer through New Genre Leadership Theory (Working Paper)|last1=Kylasam Iyer|first1=Deepa|last2=Kuriakose|first2=Francis|date=July 2016|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2017-08-06}}</ref> He studied law from Madras, and started practice in his father's chamber in 1938 at Thalassery, Malabar.<ref name="express1"/> In 1948, when he protested the evil of torture by police for interrogation, he was imprisoned for a month on a fabricated charge of giving legal assistance to communists.<ref name="many lives"/>

Iyer was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1952, from ThalasseryKuthuparamba as a non-party, independent candidate, and served until 1956.<ref name="express1" /> In 1957, Iyer stood for elections again from the Thalassery constituency as an independent candidate. He was supported by the [[Communist Party of India]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Suresh|first=Sreelakshmi|title=V.R.KRISHNA IYER|url=http://www.stateofkerala.in/niyamasabha/v_r_krishna_iyer.php|access-date=2020-08-19|website=Kerala Niyam Sabha|language=en}}</ref> He was a Minister between 1957 and 1959 in the government led by [[E. M. S. Namboodiripad]], holding the portfolios for Home, Law, Prison, Electricity, Irrigation, Social Welfare and Inland Water.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name="express1" /><ref name="many lives" /> He got several labour and land reform laws passed. He resolved an inter-state water dispute between the newly formed neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. When this government was dismissed by the central government, he resumed legal practice in August 1959. He lost the 1965 assembly election, which he again contested as an independent candidate.

Iyer made notable contributions to [[Public interest litigation in India|public interest litigation]] at the Supreme Court of India, and relaxed the rules regarding standing in a number of cases in order to allow the Court to hear and decide on socially significant matters. On a number of occasions, Iyer utilised the Supreme Court's ''suo motu'' jurisdiction to hear cases based on letters or postcards written to the Court, raising awareness about social concerns.<ref name=":0" /> Along with Justice [[P. N. Bhagwati]], he introduced the concept of [[Public Interest Litigation|PILs (Public Interest Litigations)]] or "people's involvement" in the country's courts with a series of cases.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Preston|first1=Hon. Justice Brian J|date=5 August 2013|title=A précis of Justice Krishna Iyer 's contribution to the environmental jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of India|url=http://www.lec.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/prestoncj%20krishna%20iyer%20j%20paper%20for%20festschrift.pdf#page=7|access-date=7 December 2014|website=The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, Australia|pages=7}}</ref> This revolutionary tool, initially used by public-spirited citizens to file PILs on behalf of sections of society unable to on their own, continues to bring in unheard changes in the day-to-day lives of the people even now, decades later.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Andhyarujina|first1=T. R.|date=6 August 2012|title=Disturbing trends in judicial activism|work=The Hindu|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/disturbing-trends-in-judicial-activism/article3732377.ece|access-date=8 December 2014}}</ref> Observing this, he states: ? <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Krishna Iyer|first1=Justice V. R.|date=1 February 2003|title=A democratic demand|url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2003/stories/20030214003309700.htm|journal=Frontline|volume=20|issue=3|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref>

Iyer was an opponent of the death penalty, laying down the standard that it could only be imposed in the "rarest of rare" cases.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lethal Lottery The Death Penalty in India: A study of Supreme Court judgments in death penalty cases 1950-2006 (pages 63-72)|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa20/007/2008/en/|access-date=14 December 2014|publisher=Amnesty International India and People’sPeople's Union for Civil Liberties (Tamil Nadu & Puducherry) May 2008|pages=1–244}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In ''Ediga Anamma v State of Andhra Pradesh,'' he established the jurisprudence governing the commuting of death sentences to imprisonment for life, identifying mitigating factors that could be applied in such cases.<ref name=":0" />

He retired as a judge on 14 November 1980 but, continued to advocate the cause of justice, on every forum and through his writings, participating in street protests,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20111211/1889087.html|title=Vaiko shocked over Krishna Iyer's participation in Human Chain stir|date=11 December 2011|website=webindia123.com|access-date=2017-08-07}}</ref> and his house would always remain open, bustling with all who sought his help<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianvanguard.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/keralites-with-bengal-connection-cautioned/|title=Keralites with Bengal connection cautioned|date=2008-01-28|website=Indian Vanguard|access-date=2017-08-06}}</ref> or advice.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Baxi|first1=Upendra|last2=Bhushan|first2=Prashant|title=...their respective articles on Justice Krishna Iyer|url=http://epaper.indianexpress.com/389864/Indian-Express-Mumbai/06-December-2014#page/13/3|access-date=10 December 2014|work=The Indian Express|date=6 December 2014}}</ref> He stood for the nation's president in 1987, as the Opposition's candidate against R. Venkataraman, the ruling Congress's nominee who won. In 2002, he inquired into the Gujarat riots as part of a citizens' panel, with retired Justice P. B. Sawant among others. He also headed the Kerala Law Reform Commission in 2009. He had been active, almost tilluntil a few weeks before his death, when ill-health and advancing age took their toll on him. As a public intellectual Iyer held several positions in the people's organizations, arts societies, sports councils, and cultural groupings.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://globalsouthcolloquy.com/a-trailblazer-in-indian-jurisprudence/ | title=A Trailblazer in Indian Jurisprudence: &#124; Global South Colloquy }}</ref>

He died on 4 December 2014 at the age of 99100,<ref>{{cite web|title=Former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer passes away at 100|url=http://netindian.in/news/2014/12/04/00031722/former-supreme-court-judge-v-r-krishna-iyer-passes-away-100|website=NetIndian|access-date=4 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/justice-krishna-iyer-passes-away/article6661758.ece | title=Leaving a light, Justice Krishna Iyer passes away | newspaper=The Hindu | date=4 December 2014 | access-date=4 December 2014| last1=Gopakumar | first1=K. c. }}</ref> and was cremated with state honours. His wife Sarada, who would listen to him talk about his work, when on occasion he would change his mind after she gave her opinion on it,<ref name="autobio">{{cite book|author=V. R. Krishna Iyer|title=Wandering in Many Worlds: An Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4FKhMcmpdQC&pg=PA189|year=2009|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1835-3|pages=189}}</ref> had predeceased him. Upon his demise, his private library was donated to the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, where the Justice Krishna Iyer Collection still resides.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NUALS Library|url=http://www.nuals.ac.in/LIBRARY.aspx|website=National University of Advanced Legal Studies}}</ref> He is survived by his two sons, Ramesh and Paramesh, both settled in [[United States of America|the U. S. A.]]

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