Name K. Kannabiran | ||
Movement Civil Liberties, Human Rights Died December 30, 2010, Hyderabad Books Tools of Justice: Non-discrimination and the Indian Constitution | ||
K G Kannabiran was a human rights activist and a lawyer of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP). He was cofounder and National President of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
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Early life
He was born on 9 November 1929, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to Kandala Gopalaswamy Iyengar, a doctor, and Pankajammal. His early education was in Hyderabad and Nellore. He obtained a BA Hons degree in economics (equivalent to Masters) and a degree in law from Madras University. He enrolled in the Madras Bar Council and started his practice in 1953 with the help of his advocate cousin Srinivasa Raghavan (Rajappa). He married Vasanth Kannabiran in 1959. His daughter, Chitra Kannabiran, a molecular biologist was born in 1960; second daughter Kalpana Kannabiran, a sociologist was born in 1961; and his son Arvind Kannabiran, a cinematographer, was born in 1966. He moved to Hyderabad and set up practice there soon after his marriage.
Lawyer
He practiced law in Madras (now Chennai) with moderate success and shifted to Hyderabad in 1960 soon after his marriage in 1959.
Human rights activist
Kannabiran started his career as an advocate in AP High court in the early 1960s. He defended human rights and political dissents cases, including Shankar Guha Niyogi, conspiracy cases and political prisoner cases. He was a founding member of PUCL and APCLC and other human rights organizations. Kannabiran took up cases of human rights violations, political dissidents and encounter cases, including four major conspiracy cases, Parvathipuram (Srikakulam district), Tarimela Nagi Reddy, Secunderabad and Ramnagar in 1975. Pleading his case in the lower court, he ultimately succeeded in getting the murderers convicted and punished by the High Court.
Formation of PUCL and APCLC
The PUCL was an attempt to establish an organisation free from political ideologies, through which people connected with different political parties could be brought onto a common platform for the defence of civil liberties and human rights. Kannabiran was one of the National Executive members of the PUCL. Kannabiran remained President of PUCL from 1995 to 2009.
Writing
He published the book The Wages of Impunity — Power, Justice and Human Rights.
Death
He died at age 81 after a brief illness in Hyderabad.