Kuldip Nayar, Who Spent His Life Searching for Truth Between the Lines

It was a long journey for him – 95 years, divided into pre- and post-Partition. His memories were full of the sad days of partition. He knew what price people paid and therefore, stood for values India should have after independence. He wrote throughout his life relentlessly as an editor, writer and columnist on every possible issue he thought was relevant for the people and the nation. His heart bled for the poor. He openly supported people’s movements where he found tyranny and repression by the state of human rights and civil liberties. He was a staunch defender of the freedom of press and expression and therefore, wrote fearlessly against the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975.

He was detained in Tihar jail under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. His wife, Bharti Nayar, filed a habeas corpus petition in the Delhi high court to quash his illegal detention. The petition came up before Justice S. Rangarajan, a brave and bold judge during Emergency. After the judgment was reserved, the government decided to release Kuldip Nayar and revoke his detention before the judgment was pronounced. However, Justice Rangarajan not only delivered the judgment (Bharti Nayar vs Union of India) but added a ‘post-script’ to it as to why he was delivering the judgment. He said the habeas corpus writ, being a public law remedy, after the judgment was reserved, “courtesy to the court demanded that we were apprised about the intended action before it was actually taken.”

Indira Gandhi was quite upset with these remarks and the courage shown by the judge and therefore, transferred him to Guwahati. After Justice Rangarajan retired, I joined a law practice with him in 1982. He was quite proud of his judgment in the Nayar case, which was praised, among others, by Lord Denning. I read the judgment and was quite curious to know why he wrote the post-script. He replied that on the day he was going to pronounce the judgment, he felt some unease inside. He added: “I got up around at 3 am in the morning and typed the post-script on a manual typewriter. Thereafter, I felt relieved of the burden on my conscience.” I did not know Kuldip Nayar at that time. Justice Rajindar Sachar introduced me to him after he had retired and joined the Supreme Court Bar. Since 1990, it was almost regular to see him in one meeting or the other with Justice Sachar or without him. In one of the conversations recently, I told him what justice Rangarajan said about the ‘post-script’. His response was: “Even during Emergency, there were judges who were guided by their conscience rather than the ambitions.”

I remember he was upset when the domicile requirement under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1961 was removed by an amendment with effect from August 28, 2003 for election to the Rajya Sabha. It meant that one could be chosen as an MP from any place to represent that constituency in the Rajya Sabha, though s/he had no connection with the place. He was of the view that this amendment will destroy the sacrosanct function of the legislature as such, because Rajya Sabha is a place where every Bill has to be debated properly keeping in view federalism, interests of all states and their peculiar problems. This amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court. A constitution bench heard it. Justice Sachar argued the case and I assisted him. The constitution bench upheld the amendment. Nayar was very disturbed and wrote disapproving of it. Thereafter, whenever we met, he kept telling me that he would like to challenge the judgment before a larger bench of the Supreme Court. The last reminder was when he spoke on the anniversary of the Emergency.

If there were meetings in Delhi on any human rights issue, everyone would expect Nayar and Justice Sachar to come as if they could command (out of regard and affection) their presence. Both of them would never disappoint and it would be an exception not to find them there. We lost both in a short span. It appears as if a generation has gone: one which represented a selfless breed of human beings on whom we could always depend for guidance.

As a young student, we were asked to memorise renowned authors and their work. I remember one such author was Kuldip Nayar and the book was Between the Lines. I did not understand then the meaning of an invisible gap between the lines. Now I see the gap and look at the great man who was incessantly searching between those visible lines, the invisible truth that spread ‘beyond the lines’ – over the wide canvass of his writings as an independent journalist, which truly he was till his last breath.

Sanjay Parikh is a Supreme Court advocate and national vice-president of People’s Union for Civil Liberties.