Legendary jurist VR Krishna Iyer, who made judicial activism respectable, died here on Thursday afternoon after a lifetime spent fighting for human rights and justice for the weak.

The former Supreme Court judge was in hospital for a week for age-related complications and pneumonia and the cause of the death was renal and cardiac failure. The funeral will be held here at 6 pm on Friday.

‘Justice Krishna Iyer’, as he was always called, turned 99 last month, and the event was celebrated across Kerala as his centenary because he had entered his 100{+t}{+h} year.

Krishna Iyer, whose wife Sarada died 40 years ago, is survived by two sons.

Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer was born on November 15, 1915 at Sekharipuram, a suburb of Palakkad town, to Rama Iyer, a successful lawyer.

Legal acumen Inspired by his father, Krishna Iyer studied law and started practising at Thalassery, which was an important outpost of East India Company. Soon he became known for his legal acumen and built up a brilliant career.

He successfully defended several communists when the movement was banned. In 1952, he was elected to the Madras Legislature (at the time, northern Kerala was part of Madras Presidency).

In 1957, he was elected to the Kerala Assembly as a Communist Independent and he joined EMS Nampoothirippad’s first Communist government in the State as Minister for Home, Law, Irrigation and Prisons.

Though the EMS government lasted only two years, Iyer made a lasting impact as a minister, particularly in the area of prison reforms. His steps to uphold prisoner rights are lauded even now, 55 years after the government was dismissed by the Centre.

Though he was a member of the Communist government, Iyer later said he had never been a communist. He did, however, imbibe many of the movement’s values.

He has always been considered a communist co-traveller, nevertheless.

Anti-establishment judge Iyer was made a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1968 and became a member of the Law Commission in 1971.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court in July 1973 and retired in November 1980. He was considered an anti-establishment judge.

His Supreme Court days are noted for brilliant judgments on a variety of issues. His judgments on death penalty, public interest litigation and human rights have been lauded the world over. It is said that more than 100 Ph.D. theses have been written on Iyer’s contributions to Indian jurisprudence.

“When Krishna Iyer speaks, the nation listens,” was how Fali S Nariman once described him.

Social causes After his retirement from the Supreme Court, Iyer spent two years in Chennai before moving to Kochi in 1982. Then began a socially-effective phase of his life when he got involved in myriad issues, mainly those related to human rights.

The rights of adivasis, women and minorities; environmental protection; secularism; and religious amity were some of the issues that received his attention. During the last quarter of his life, Iyer used his moral force with the government and the political establishment to correct policies as well as redress people’s grievances.

At one time, he was the patron of more than 100 organisations and associations. He also wrote books, mainly on law and justice, and frequently contributed to The Hindu on issues related to the judiciary.