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'''Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde''' (3 July 1909 in [[Saswad]] – 22 March 2004 in [[Delhi]]), was a prominent Indian lawyer, civil rights activist, and humanist leader and has been referred to as the "Father of the Civil Liberties movement" in India and a former judge of the Bombay High Court<ref name="Outlook">[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?223371 Outlook MAR 24, 2004 TRIBUTE – Father Of Civil Liberties In India]</ref><ref>PUCL Bulletin Special Issue Justice Tarkunde: Vol. XXVII, No. 3 {{ISSN|0970-8693}} MARCH 2007 ("''This is a special number of the PUCL Bulletin dedicated to the memory of V M Tarkunde, the doyen of the Civil Liberties Movement in India''")</ref> The Supreme Court of India also praised him as "undoubtedly the most distinguished judge of the post-[[M. C. Chagla|Chagla]] 1957 period" in the [[Bombay High Court]].<ref name="court">Full Court Reference in memory of Late Shri V M Tarkunde,Senior Advocate, on Wednesday, 7 April 2004 in the Supreme Court of India Address by Soli J Sorabjee Attorney General for India</ref>

==Early life and education==

Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde was born in [[Saswad]], [[Pune District]], Maharashtra on 3 July 1909. He was the 2nd of the five children of Mahadeo Rajaram Tarkunde, a popular lawyer and social reformer at [[Saswad]],then headquarters of [[Purandar taluka]] adjoining Pune. His father, a [[Brahmin]] by caste, had fought against the practice of [[untouchability]].<ref name="ReferenceA">A Restless Crusader for Human Rights – M A Rane, PUCL Bulletin Special Issue Justice Tarkunde: Vol. XXVII, No. 3 {{ISSN|0970-8693}} MARCH 2007</ref>

In 1920 he migrated from Saswad to Pune and joined the New English School, Pune. In the Matriculation examination of 1925 held by the [[Bombay University]], he stood first in the erstwhile [[Bombay Presidency]]. He also secured the prestigious Jagannath Shankersheth Scholarship for Sanskrit. He then joined the [[Fergusson College]] for BA which he completed in 1929, subsequently moving to London, where he attended the Lincoln's Inn and qualified as a [[Barrister-at-Law]] in 1931. He also attended lectures in economics, political science and social anthropology at the [[London School of Economics]](LSE) as an external student. He returned to India the next year in December and commenced his legal practice in Pune.<ref name="court"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="ReferenceB">Author Overview – Voice of A Great Sentinel: Selected Writings of V.M. Tarkunde – 1 January 2004 , 1st ed. – Renaissance Publishers Pvt. Ltd.</ref><ref name="inmemoriam">[http://www.pucl.org/Topics/PUCL/2004/tarkunde-condolence4.htm In Memoriam, Justice V.M. Tarkunde (1909–2004)]</ref>

==Legal career==

Tarkunde started practice at Pune soon after he returned to India in 1933. He continued there till 1942 when he gave up his practice to become a full-time member of the [[Radical Democratic Party (India)|Radical Democratic Party]]. He resumed his legal practice in the [[Bombay High Court]] in 1948 after [[Independence of India|Independence]] and was elevated to the bench as a Judge of the [[Bombay High Court]] in September 1957. He stepped down voluntarily as Judge of the Bombay High Court in 1969 and set up practice in the [[Supreme Court of India]] where he continued till his resignation in 1977 at the age of 68. He was chiefly concerned with [[Public Interest Litigation]]s and constitutional cases, most of which he conducted with little or no fees.<ref name="inmemoriam"/>

==Activism==
In 1933, he joined the [[Congress Socialist Party]](CSP) and the [[Indian National Congress]] but later left the CSP disillusioned with their vote against [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] in the January 1939 Tripuri session of Congress. He then joined the League of Radical Congressmen led by his mentor [[M. N. Roy]] in April 1939.<ref>"Why I left the Congress", Through Humanist Eyes Vithal Mahadev Tarkunde.1st ed. New Delhi, Ajanta Publications,1997</ref>

In 1940, Roy and Tarkunde, along with several others, left the Congress after dissenting on the question of participation in the [[Second World War]]. Roy advocated participation in the war against the [[Axis powers]], while simultaneously striving for Indian independence, and founded the [[Radical Democratic Party (India)|Radical Democratic Party]] to further this cause. In 1942, Tarkunde gave up his legal practice to become a full-time member of the [[Radical Democratic Party (India)|Radical Democratic Party]] and was elected General Secretary of the RDP in 1944, thereby migrating to Delhi. By 1946 Roy formulated the philosophy of New Humanism. By 1948 he and Roy decided that political parties were an inadequate instrument for promoting freedom of the people and so dissolved the RDP in December 1948. He returned to legal practice the same year.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

==Radical Humanism==

In 1969, Tarkunde founded the Indian Radical Humanist Association as an organisation for radical humanists. He also began editing the ''Radical Humanist'' (founded in 1937 by Roy as ''Independent India'') in April 1970, supporting it initially with his own income. In 1973 he was one of the signers of the [[Humanist Manifesto II|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II | title=Humanist Manifesto II | publisher=American Humanist Association | access-date=24 November 2012}}</ref>

==Emergency==

During the [[Indian Emergency|emergency]], he worked closely with [[Jayaprakash Narayan]], providing leadership to the NGOs Citizens for Democracy and [[People's Union for Civil Liberties]], of which he was the founding president. He also worked on the [[Citizen's Justice Committee]] and played a principal part in resisting and investigating the excesses of the period, including the [[1984 Anti-Sikh riots]],<ref>Judge V.M. Tarkunde, et al., Oppression in Punjab: Report to the Nation, New Delhi: Citizens for Democracy, 1985</ref> and human rights violations in the Punjab, Kashmir, and the North-East.<ref name="Outlook"/> His refusal to consider kashmiri pandits who had fled valley in 1990 as human right victims caused much controversy and led to his dubbing as " Terrorists' defender in chief" as he regularly attacked Indian army for fake encounters and extra judicial killings.In 1995, he departed from his earlier stand of considering firing by police as human rights violation and defended UP government in Muzaffarnagar police firing and rape on Uttarakhand state demand activists on 2 October 1994 in Supreme Court.His volte face was noted by honourable bench with humour and he won the case with court ruling that there was not adequate evidence of wilful human rights violation by State government.But it led to his breaking ranks with radical humanists.

Tarkunde was a board member for the [[International Humanist and Ethical Union]]([[IHEU]]), the world union of Humanist organisations for over 40 years.<ref name="iheu">[http://www.iheu.org/glossary/term/372?Array IHEU Glossary VM Tarkunde]</ref>

==Awards and honours==

At the 1978 London Congress of the [[IHEU]], VM Tarkunde received the International Humanist Award 1978.<ref name="iheu"/> The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1998.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=July 21, 2015}}</ref>

==Books==
{{lacking ISBN}}
# Radical humanism: The philosophy of freedom and democracy<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/s?search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=V.%20M%20Tarkunde Amazon book search V M Tarkunde]</ref>
# Report to the Nation:Oppression in Punjab
# Communalism and human rights (J.P. memorial lecture)
# Through humanist eyes
# Radical humanism: The philosophy of freedom and democracy
# For freedom
# Kashmir problem: Possible solutions
# Great Britain and India
# The danger ahead: An analysis of congress capitalist alignment

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.pucl.org People's Union for Civil Liberties]
*[http://www.iheu.org/node/1434 Indian Radical Humanist Association]
*[http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/16-30Apr04-Print-Edition/1604200415.htm Prashant Bhushan: V. M. Tarkunde: father of civil liberties in India]
*[http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/43614 He administered justice, not just law, the Bar’s noblest soul’ FALI S NARIMAN]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1990–99}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarkunde, V. M.}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian human rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Indian humanists]]
[[Category:Civil rights activists]]
[[Category:People from Pune district]]
[[Category:Judges of the Bombay High Court]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs]]

V. M. Tarkunde - Revision history

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