Picture by S.H. Patgiri

A gifted lawyer, first-rate legislator, outstanding law reformer, front-ranking member of a council of ministers, an eminently illustrious judge. There are more than one facet to the man. But above all, Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer is a great humanist.

The former Supreme Court justice was on a recent sojourn to Guwahati to deliver the first Dr. Amitabh Chowdhury Memorial Lecture on the topic of ?Death sentence on death sentence? at Pragjyoti. ?Guwahati, lying in the green belt of Brahmaputra, is a blessed land. The river, the people and the pleasant climate, I am quite impressed by it all.?

At the lecture, the audience caught a glimpse of the humanist in this doyen of Indian judiciary as he denounced killing in any form, be it in the name of rendering justice through the order of the judiciary or in acts of terrorism. Dwelling on the controversial issue, the Padma Vibhushan said, ?Infliction of death sentences by the courts should be discouraged.?

?Thousands of people are being killed on earth by the armed forces, terrorist groups, in accidents. We must strive to stop such killings to bring happiness and prosperity to mankind.?

Iyer was born on November 15, 1915 in Malabar, Northern Kerala. After completing his education from the Annamalai and Madras Universities, he followed in his father?s footsteps and donned the lawyer?s mantle. Rama Iyer, his father, was an eminent trial lawyer in the Malabar area. Young Krishna entered the portals of legal profession to fulfil his father?s wish and within a short span of time he had made his mark.

?Abiding by my father wishes, I embraced a profession where you encounter challenges every single day of your life. But I am happy that I got an opportunity to see life from a larger perspective. I have always followed my instincts and tried to remain a faithful disciple of the legal profession.?

In the 1952 general elections, Krishna Iyer was elected to the Assembly as an Independent candidate.

He was also a member of the first ever Kerala government formed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad in 1957. He was put in charge of law, home, irrigation and prisons.

After serving the state of Kerala as an able administrator he returned to practice law. Sometime later in 1968 he was appointed a judge of Kerala High Court. Thereafter, he was offered the post of a member of the Law Commission.

In 1973, Iyer reached the pinnacle of his career when he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. During his stint in the apex court, he took various steps in initiating progressive and humane jurisprudence.

His tenure in the Supreme Court is marked by some monumental judgments. Most of his verdicts are now accepted as doctrines by legal professionals.

In one of his celebrated judgments, the noted jurist observed, ?There can be no iron curtain between a prisoner and the Constitution...the provision of the Constitution should not be rendered sterile, as a result of the intransigence of the officers of the judiciary.? In this particular case, Justice Iyer shone the spotlight on the pathetic prison conditions and the inhuman attitude of the prison bosses.

Human rights activism in the country reached a new high and blossomed during Justice Iyer?s stint in the Supreme Court.

He left his indelible mark on almost all dimensions of human rights jurisprudence. He gave a new meaning to livelihood and employment security, penology and penal law as well as prison jurisprudence.

?Hate the sin not the sinner,? reflects the veteran lawyer. ?I believe in the Valmiki phenomenon, that can transform even the hardest of criminals through the process of rehabilitation and lead them to combine with mainstream society.?

Justice Iyer provided life to Article 21 of the Constitution, enlivened social justice and humanised penology. Similarly, his deftness and depth is felt in the area of industrial jurisprudence and gender justice.

His life?s work is restricted not only in showing his genius and achievements in the legal arena, V.R. Krishna Iyer has used his facile pen to write some outstanding books on life and living.

He is also a gifted musician and an outstanding veena player.

?If I can manage to address an audience at 90 years of age, then I am sure anyone with a positive outlook can make his life a meaningful one,? signs off the humanist.

Maitryee Boruah