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Person In News: January 2011

Civil rights activist Kannabiran passes away
• Eminent civil rights activist and prominent lawyer K.G. Kannabiran (81) passed away in
Hyderabad after a brief illness.

• Born in 1929, Mr. Kannabiran obtained master's degree in Economics and a degree in law from
the Madras University before shifting to Hyderabad to set up legal practice in 1961. Since the
late 1960s, he began to defend political dissenters that eventually marked the beginning of his
over three-decade-long civil liberties and human rights work.
Sudhir Sopory, JNU VC
• President Pratibha Patil in her capacity as the Visitor of all Central Universities gave her assent
to the appointment of Sudhir K. Sopory as the new Vice-Chancellor of the prestigious
Jawaharlal Nehru University.

• He succeeds B.B. Bhattacharya, whose term ended in June 2010. Professor Sopory is a senior
scientist of molecular biology at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (ICGEB). The Human Resource Development Ministry has already issued a
notification regarding his appointment.

• The three-member committee which shortlisted the names was led by K. Kasturirangan, the
former ISRO chief.
Suchitra Mitra dead
• Suchitra Mitra, the legendary exponent of Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore's songs),
died in her South Kolkata residence after a protracted illness. She was 86.

• Her death in the 150th birth anniversary year of Tagore, the Nobel laureate, did more than just
cast a gloom over the world of culture and art; it marked the end of an era.
Civil rights activist Kannabiran passes away
• Eminent civil rights activist and prominent lawyer K.G. Kannabiran (81) passed away in
Hyderabad after a brief illness on Thursday evening.
• He is survived by wife Vasanta, two daughters and a son. The last rites were performed later in
the evening in the presence of family members as per his wish.

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• Born in 1929, Mr. Kannabiran obtained master's degree in Economics and a degree in law from
the Madras University before shifting to Hyderabad to set up legal practice in 1961. Since the
late 1960s, he began to defend political dissenters that eventually marked the beginning of his
over three-decade-long civil liberties and human rights work.
• He was the president of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee between 1978 and 1994 and
went on to become the national president of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
• With Leftist leanings, he advocated a dialogue between the government and the banned
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) – People's War — later known as CPI (Maoist).
• Mr. Kannabiran was always at hand to negotiate during deadlock between the State and the
extremist organisation. He played a key role in the release of seven IAS officers and others held
hostage by the People's War extremists in East Godavari district in December 1987.
• The Andhra Pradesh government sought his help when P. Sudhir Kumar, Congress MLA and
son of former Union Minister P. Shiv Shanker, was kidnapped by Naxalites from Hyderabad in
1991. Again in January 1993, it was the help rendered by Mr. Kannabiran that ensured the
return of another Congress MLA P. Balaraju, IAS officer D. Srinivasulu and six others, after
they were taken hostage by Naxalites.
• He was a member of Concerned Citizen's Tribunal that inquired into the Gujarat carnage.
Earlier, he was appointed as senior counsel by the CBI in the prosecution of the accused in the
Shankar Guha Niyogi murder case in Madhya Pradesh.
• During the Emergency, he defended numerous political detainees and appeared in four major
conspiracy cases — three of them in Andhra Pradesh — that had been filed to suppress political
dissent.
• In 1971, he filed a writ petition successfully challenging the Andhra Pradesh Preventive
Detention Act, 1970, under which writers, poets and intellectuals had been arrested.
• He was a lover of classical Indian music. He authored a book ‘The wages of impunity: power,
justice and human rights'. Several political parties and people's organisation condoled his
untimely death. Among them were Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, Lok
Satta Party chief N. Jayaprakash Narayan and CPI (M) State committee secretary B. V.
Raghavulu.
Sudhir Sopory, JNU VC
• President Pratibha Patil in her capacity as the Visitor of all Central Universities gave her assent
to the appointment of Sudhir K. Sopory as the new Vice-Chancellor of the prestigious
Jawaharlal Nehru University.
• He succeeds B.B. Bhattacharya, whose term ended in June 2010. Professor Sopory is a senior
scientist of molecular biology at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (ICGEB). The Human Resource Development Ministry has already issued a
notification regarding his appointment.
• The three-member committee which shortlisted the names was led by K. Kasturirangan, the
former ISRO chief.
Suchitra Mitra dead
• Suchitra Mitra, the legendary exponent of Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore's songs),

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died in her South Kolkata residence after a protracted illness. She was 86.
• Her death in the 150 {+t} {+h} birth anniversary year of Tagore, the Nobel laureate, did more
than just cast a gloom over the world of culture and art; it marked the end of an era.
• Eminent personalities from different walks of life flocked to her residence to pay their last
respects on hearing of her passing away.
• President Pratibha Patil, in a condolence message from Goa, described Suchitra Mitra as a
“renowned exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, a great name in the field of the performing arts, a
creative genius and a versatile personality”. “Her death will create a void in the world of culture
and art”, she added.
• Suchitra Mitra, through her inimitable renditions of Tagore's songs, had enthralled music lovers
worldwide, not just Bengalis or those in the country, Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
said in his condolence message.
• “The soul of Tagore's songs was well and deeply manifest in her own style of rendition…I was
acquainted with her for a long period….Along with her numerous admirers, students, close
relatives and the ordinary people, I too mourn her passing away”, he added.
• Recipient of the Padma Shri award in 1973, she was also presented the Tagore Hymn Prize in
1945 from the London Tagore Hymn Society, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986 and
several others including the ‘Desikottam' conferred on her by the Visva Bharati University.
From childhood, Suchitra Mitra cultivated her love for the songs and poetry of Tagore. She was
given her first lessons in Rabindra Sangeet by Pankaj Mullick.

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