I remember the first time that I met him. In 1984, we had organized a small seminar on environmental law. I rang him up to request him to deliver the keynote address. To my pleasant surprise, he readily agreed to come all the way from Kerala. He did not even accept payment for his return ticket which he said was being arranged by another organization whose function he was also attending. His speeches were always full of wisdom, showing a vast and deep understanding of society, and the law, and always reflecting an enormous compassion for the weak and the oppressed. The language in his judgments and articles was inventive and sometimes contained phrases which were not to be found in the English lexicon. Some people found his use of complex and sometimes obscure phrases irksome and wished that he would use simpler language, but only he with his complete command and mastery over the language could carry it off. He was a judge’s judge and many judges, including giants like Justice J.S. Verma and Justice Chinappa Reddy turned to him for counsel when facing controversial questions. Every visit of mine to Cochin would include a pilgrimage to his simple and austere home. He would invariably show interest in the important developments in the judiciary and society and would listen attentively (even while lying down, in the last years of his life). He was virtually blind in the last few years. I cannot ever forget the handwritten note that he sent me a few months ago praising and “saluting” me for taking up the bail case of Abdul Nasser Mahdani, a paraplegic who had been incarcerated for the Bangalore blasts and had been in jail for 4 years with deteriorating health, while his trial went on and on. With tears in my eyes, I thought of the enormous effort that it must have taken him to write that note with his own hand. What a man! I doubt if we will see another like him in our lifetime.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 02:50:47 +0000
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