Former Supreme Court judge Justice VR Krishna Iyer passed away - TopicsExpress

Former Supreme Court judge Justice VR Krishna Iyer passed away today at a private hospital in Kochi. He was 100. He had been in hospital since last Friday and was suffering from respiratory, cardiac and renal problems. He had stopped taking food orally and was on a liquid diet through a nasal feeding tube since Monday this week. Justice Iyer’s hundredth birthday, which fell on November 15 this year, was celebrated by the legal fraternity with great enthusiasm. Justice Iyer, who graduated in law from the Madras Law College in the year 1937, practised in the Malabar region of the present Kerala State - then a part of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. He was actively involved in the Communist movement in Kerala and became a Minister in the Communist government which came to power in Kerala in the year 1957. He was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court in the year 1968. In 1971, he was appointed as a Member of the Law Commission for which he moved to Delhi. Justice Iyer was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1973, where he served for seven years before retiring in 1980. As a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Krishna Iyer gained prominence for his path-breaking judgments on prison reforms and human rights and his contributions to criminal and human rights jurisprudence. Along with a few of his brother judges, Justice Iyer was instrumental in developing and shaping public interest litigation, which eventually led to significant contributions by the Supreme Court in various fields of law. Even after his retirement, Justice Krishna Iyer used to actively participate in different seminars and conferences and involve himself in human rights causes. RIP 😔