V. M. Tarkunde

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Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde (3 July 1909 in Saswad – 22 March 2004 in Delhi), was a prominent Indian lawyer, civil rights activist, and humanist leader and has been referred to as the "Father of the Civil Liberties movement" in India and a former judge of the Bombay High Court[1][2] The Supreme Court of India also praised him as "undoubtedly the most distinguished judge of the post-Chagla 1957 period" in the Bombay High Court.[3]

Early life and education

Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde was born in

Pune District, Maharashtra on 3 July 1909. He was the 2nd of the five children of Mahadeo Rajaram Tarkunde, a popular lawyer and social reformer at Saswad, then headquarters of Purandar taluka adjoining Pune. His father, a Brahmin by caste, had fought against the practice of untouchability.[4]

In 1920 he migrated from Saswad to Pune and joined the New English School, Pune. In the Matriculation examination of 1925 held by the

Barrister-at-Law in 1931. He also attended lectures in economics, political science and social anthropology at the London School of Economics(LSE) as an external student. He returned to India the next year in December and commenced his legal practice in Pune.[3][4][5][6]

Legal career

Tarkunde started practice at Pune soon after he returned to India in 1933. He continued there till 1942 when he gave up his practice to become a full-time member of the

Public Interest Litigations and constitutional cases, most of which he conducted with little or no fees.[6]

Activism

In 1933, he joined the Congress Socialist Party(CSP) and the Indian National Congress but later left the CSP disillusioned with their vote against Subhas Chandra Bose in the January 1939 Tripuri session of Congress. He then joined the League of Radical Congressmen led by his mentor M. N. Roy in April 1939.[7]

In 1940, Roy and Tarkunde, along with several others, left the Congress after dissenting on the question of participation in the

Second World War. Roy advocated participation in the war against the Axis powers, while simultaneously striving for Indian independence, and founded the Radical Democratic Party to further this cause. In 1942, Tarkunde gave up his legal practice to become a full-time member of the Radical Democratic Party and was elected General Secretary of the RDP in 1944, thereby migrating to Delhi. By 1946 Roy formulated the philosophy of New Humanism. By 1948 he and Roy decided that political parties were an inadequate instrument for promoting freedom of the people and so dissolved the RDP in December 1948. He returned to legal practice the same year.[5]

Radical Humanism

In 1969, Tarkunde founded the Indian Radical Humanist Association as an organisation for radical humanists. He also began editing the Radical Humanist (founded in 1937 by Roy as Independent India) in April 1970, supporting it initially with his own income. In 1973 he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.[8]

Emergency

During the

1984 Anti-Sikh riots,[9] and human rights violations in the Punjab, Kashmir, and the North-East.[1]
His refusal to consider kashmiri pandits who had fled valley in 1990 as human right victims caused much controversy and led to his dubbing as " Terrorists' defender in chief" as he regularly attacked Indian army for fake encounters and extra judicial killings.In 1995, he departed from his earlier stand of considering firing by police as human rights violation and defended UP government in Muzaffarnagar police firing and rape on Uttarakhand state demand activists on 2 October 1994 in Supreme Court.His volte face was noted by honourable bench with humour and he won the case with court ruling that there was not adequate evidence of wilful human rights violation by State government.But it led to his breaking ranks with radical humanists.

Tarkunde was a board member for the

IHEU), the world union of Humanist organisations for over 40 years.[10]

Awards and honours

At the 1978 London Congress of the

IHEU, VM Tarkunde received the International Humanist Award 1978.[10] The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1998.[11]

Books

  1. Radical humanism: The philosophy of freedom and democracy[12]
  2. Report to the Nation:Oppression in Punjab
  3. Communalism and human rights (J.P. memorial lecture)
  4. Through humanist eyes
  5. Radical humanism: The philosophy of freedom and democracy
  6. For freedom
  7. Kashmir problem: Possible solutions
  8. Great Britain and India
  9. The danger ahead: An analysis of congress capitalist alignment

References

  1. ^ a b Outlook MAR 24, 2004 TRIBUTE – Father Of Civil Liberties In India
  2. ISSN 0970-8693
    MARCH 2007 ("This is a special number of the PUCL Bulletin dedicated to the memory of V M Tarkunde, the doyen of the Civil Liberties Movement in India")
  3. ^ a b Full Court Reference in memory of Late Shri V M Tarkunde, Senior Advocate, on Wednesday, 7 April 2004 in the Supreme Court of India Address by Soli J Sorabjee Attorney General for India
  4. ^
    ISSN 0970-8693
    MARCH 2007
  5. ^ a b Author Overview – Voice of A Great Sentinel: Selected Writings of V.M. Tarkunde – 1 January 2004, 1st ed. – Renaissance Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  6. ^ a b In Memoriam, Justice V.M. Tarkunde (1909–2004)
  7. ^ "Why I left the Congress", Through Humanist Eyes Vithal Mahadev Tarkunde.1st ed. New Delhi, Ajanta Publications,1997
  8. ^ "Humanist Manifesto II". American Humanist Association. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  9. ^ Judge V.M. Tarkunde, et al., Oppression in Punjab: Report to the Nation, New Delhi: Citizens for Democracy, 1985
  10. ^ a b IHEU Glossary VM Tarkunde
  11. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  12. ^ Amazon book search V M Tarkunde

External links

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