Retired HC judge Hosbet Suresh dies
Retired justice Hosbet Suresh, 91, one of the most respected judges of the Bombay high court (HC) who led many commissions that investigated human rights violations, passed away at his Andheri residence at 10.45pm on Thursday. The last rites were performed at the Santacruz crematorium at 1am on Friday.
Born on July 20, 1929, in Hosabettu town in Dakshina Kannada, justice Suresh finished his Bachelor of Arts from Mangalore University before pursuing his Masters in Arts from Visvesvaraya Technological University in Belagavi. He then moved to Mumbai and finished his Legum Magister (LLM) from University of Mumbai and enrolled as an advocate of the HC in 1953.
Justice Suresh, who taught at the Government Law College and KC College, was appointed as the assistant government pleader in the Bombay City Civil & Sessions Court before being appointed as an additional judge in the sessions court on November 29, 1968. He was promoted as the second additional principal judge in October 1979, but resigned from the post in June 1980 to start his practice as an advocate at the HC. He was designated a senior advocate in 1982, and after practising for nearly four years, he took charge as the additional judge of the HC on November 21, 1986, from where he retired on July 19, 1991. Among his landmark judgments are the one in Subash Desai vs Sharad J Rao case that set aside the election of a member of the Maharashtra’s legislative Assembly on the grounds that he had misused religion and indulged in religious propaganda to manipulate mass sentiments for votes.
Many remember him as the flag-bearer of the human rights movement in the country, following the footsteps of his mentor, justice
VR Krishna Iyer. After his retirement, justice Suresh responded to calls of various social actions groups and travelled across the country and other parts of Asia, and headed numerous people’s inquiry commissions and produced reports highlighting the violation of basic human rights.
Justice Suresh either participated or headed investigations into the riots following the Cauvery Waters Dispute, Bangalore (1991); the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots following the demolition of Babri Masjid; forced evictions of slum dwellers by the authorities in Mumbai in 1994; harmful effects of prawn farming on the eastern coast that led to the Supreme Court of India banning prawn farming in 1995. He was also part of the commission that investigated the merciless drowning of Dalits by the Tamil Nadu police in 1999; the shooting of tribals in Devas, Madhya Pradesh in 1999; food scarcity and militarisation in Burma in 1999; and inquiry into the genocide in Gujarat in 2002 that led to the report of the Concerned Citizens Tribunal.
Human rights activist Teesta Setalvad said, “He was a mentor, gentle guide to what substantive justice should be, how the bench much always be compassionate.” Justice BR Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, said, “He even represented before me during the riots commission. Although I did not agree with him and even issued a contempt notice, he remained my good friend.”