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| Justice V.M. Tarkunde | |
|---|---|
| Name | Vithal Madhav Tarkunde |
| Honorific prefix | Justice |
| Birth date | 13 December 1909 |
| Death date | 20 November 2004 |
| Birth place | Jalgaon, Bombay Presidency, British India |
| Occupation | Judge, lawyer, activist, writer |
| Alma mater | University of Bombay |
Justice V.M. Tarkunde
Vithal Madhav Tarkunde was an Indian jurist, civil libertarian, and author whose career spanned the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court of India, and extensive human rights activism. He played a prominent role in post‑Independence legal developments, civil liberties organizations, and public interest litigation, engaging with figures and institutions across Indian and international legal and political arenas.
Born in Jalgaon during the period of the Bombay Presidency, Tarkunde studied at institutions affiliated to the University of Bombay and trained in law under the colonial legal framework influenced by the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure reforms. He was educated in a milieu shaped by contemporaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and legal luminaries like B.R. Ambedkar and Nani Palkhivala, and was conversant with comparative jurisprudence from texts by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., H.L.A. Hart, and Roscoe Pound.
Tarkunde began practice at the Bombay High Court and rose to be a judge on the same bench before appointment to the Supreme Court of India. During his tenure he interacted with jurists including P. N. Bhagwati, Y.V. Chandrachud, and Fali S. Nariman, and dealt with cases touching statutes like the Constitution of India provisions, the Indian Evidence Act, and criminal procedure under the Criminal Procedure Code. His judicial work engaged with precedents from the Privy Council era, drew upon comparative decisions from the House of Lords, and was discussed in academic circles at institutions such as the National Law School of India University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.
After leaving the bench Tarkunde became active in civil liberties, founding and leading organizations such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and working alongside activists like Arundhati Roy, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and Hector Abad Gómez in global dialogues. He campaigned on issues related to emergency excesses during the The Emergency (India, 1975) period, engaged with bodies including Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists, and corresponded with human rights scholars at Columbia University, Harvard Law School, and University of Oxford forums. Tarkunde challenged detentions under statutes like the Maintenance of Internal Security Act and collaborated with public interest litigants connected to cases before the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court.
Tarkunde's opinions reflected influences from classical liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and constitutional theorists including Granville Austin and D.D. Basu. His judgments emphasized civil liberties, due process under provisions of the Constitution of India, and interpretive approaches that dialogue with decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the European Court of Human Rights. He critiqued preventive detention jurisprudence evolving from cases like those involving A.K. Gopalan while drawing on comparative law from judgments by Earl Warren and Felix Frankfurter. His legal philosophy informed debates at symposia hosted by the Indian Law Institute and the Bar Council of India.
Beyond the bench Tarkunde entered public life, associating with political movements and figures such as Jayprakash Narayan, George Fernandes, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Biju Patnaik in campaigns against authoritarian measures. He participated in commissions and inquiries addressing rights violations and engaged with policy bodies including the Law Commission of India and parliamentary committees. Tarkunde also worked with international coalitions at conferences alongside representatives from the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Tarkunde authored books and essays on civil liberties, constitutionalism, and legal reform, contributing to journals like the Indian Journal of Law and Justice and publishing critiques referencing theorists such as Ronald Dworkin, Karl Popper, and Amartya Sen. His works were cited in academic publications from the London School of Economics, Columbia University Press, and the Oxford University Press and discussed at lectures held at the University of Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He wrote on cases and statutes involving the Indian Evidence Act and constitutional safeguards provided under Articles of the Constitution of India.
Tarkunde's personal network included interactions with figures like Nani A. Palkhivala, Anil B. Divan, and civil liberties colleagues in the People's Union for Civil Liberties. His legacy is preserved in archives of the National Archives of India, law libraries at the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court of India, and through continued citation by jurists, activists, and scholars at institutions including National Law University, Delhi and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He is remembered alongside contemporaries such as K. Subba Rao and P. N. Bhagwati for contributions to rights jurisprudence and public interest law.
Category:Indian judges Category:Indian human rights activists