A quick note that I just wrote The Human Rights Mathematician
Dr. Ramanamurthy, who was then with National Academy for Legal Studies and Research dragged me to multiple Human Rights Forum fact findings on a weekend in 2001. It was in an APSRTC bus headed for Warangal, that I was first introduced to Balagopal. Already a legend in the Human Rights circles, many of us held him and his work in awe. The bespectacled man immediately plunged into a lecture on a speculative History of Irani tea. After this, for the one and a half years, that I was in Hyderabad, I was a regular face in many of the programs and fact findings initiated by the Human Rights Forum. At a moment of shock, I am just jotting down some disjointed memories, which I hope might give a clue to his personality. Balagopal rarely spoke about his personal life. Most of what I know of it is hearsay, from co-travellers in the Human Rights Forum and of course snippets that slipped from him. I still remember him reminiscing about his student days in Tirupati and Chandrababu Naidu's politics in campus. But his life itself is a telling testimony about his commitment, propensity for hard work and his intellectual range. A little known fact about him is that his doctorate is in Mathematics. It was his journey through the civil liberties movement and associated personal experiences that made him change his career from a Mathematics teacher to a full time practicing lawyer. Having served for a long time as the General Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, he, along with M T Khan, G Haragopal and Kancha Ilaiah parted ways to found the Human Rights Forum. The internal difference that led to this rift and marked Balagopal's political positions thereafter is captured in the HRF website; "The Human Rights Forum (HRF) was formed in October 1998. Most of the members of HRF were members of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, who fell out on the question of what should be the perspective of a rights organization. The HRF strongly believes that the state alone is not the center of rights violations. " This ideological position coupled with his forthrightness made him an undesirable element for both the State and the Naxalites. Despite this, he has played a pivotal role in attempting mediations between the State and the Naxalites within the Constitutional framework. His unparalleled clarity, scholarship combined with his experience forms one of the most important contributions to the Human Rights discourse in India Fact finding missions with Balagopal in Andhra Pradesh were always intense academic experiences as well - apart from the emotional upheaval one had to grapple with in many of these situations. For one, apart from knowing the geography, socio-politics of the region like the back of his hand, he was always the most prepared amongst the entire team The experience could only be complete with his anecdotes marked with characteristic humour. He dealt with victims of violence with uncanny sensitivity, the police and agents of violence with firmness and the media with tact. The police were wary of the man – so wary that at one police station we were turned away because of his presence on the pretext that the Station House Officer was not available. While at public meetings and discussions, he was erudition personified. I vividly remember his intervention, when late Abdul Ghani Lone was visiting Hyderabad (amongst other cities) on a lecture tour. As a lawyer, he was thorough, but more importantly, he epitomized the ethics of legal practice to the point of being irksome. I remember being irritated with him, the one of the few times that I visited him at his residence for not demanding the fees due to him from a fairly well to do client. After leaving Hyderabad, I have bumped into him at a few Human Rights Conferences and meetings. The last meeting was a couple of years ago at the India International Centre in New Delhi at conference on the changing trends in Criminal Law hosted by the Human Rights Law Network. At lunch he was lamenting about the regressive role being played by Dr. Madhava Menon in meddling with Criminal Law reforms. His demise comes at a juncture when his clarity and erudition are needed the most. When the government of India is making noises about waging war against naxalism – disregarding constitutional norms, when the Central and State governments are busy figuring out excuses and facades to quell dissent, when shining India looks away, a very important voice of sanity has gone silent forever. Personally I have lost that person, whose informal tutelage honed my understanding of the Human Rights discourse and criminal justice jurisprudence. On 08/10/2009, John Samuel <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Bobby, > > I am really shocked and sad to hear the passing away of Balagopal- a > friend and fellow traveler. He has been one of the most respected human > rights activists and voice for justice in India . This is a also great loss > to the human rights movement in India and elsewhere. My colleagues Babu and > others too will be very sad to hear about this. > > Warmly > JS > > > > --- On Fri, 10/9/09, Bobby Kunhu <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Bobby Kunhu <[email protected]> > Subject: [FEC] Balagopal Passes away > To: "[email protected]" > <[email protected]>, "Greenyouth" > <[email protected]> > Date: Friday, October 9, 2009, 2:17 AM > > > > http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article31021.ece > -- > Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ > > > > > > > > > -- Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
