RSS, Mullaperiyar dam and more: Undaunted and forthright, Justice KT Thomas

KOTTAYAM: Padma Vibhushan to Supreme Court Retired Justice Kallupurackal Thomas Thomas came as a birthday gift. K.T. Thomas is set to celebrate his 89th birthday on the 30th of this month. A fearless judge and a great admirer of Morarji Desai, Thomas imbibed every ethos of professionalism from the former prime minister of India.

K.T. Thomas received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. Although age has caught up, Thomas still relishes his time reading and writing in his office at his house in Kanjikuzhy, Kottayam.

Open praise for RSS, opposing the death penalty, and Mullaperiyar were a few of the infamous opinions that made K T Thomas a very popular name in India.

He was the only person from Kerala to attend the camp convened by Jawaharlal Nehru to form the Youth Congress. Later, he took the lead in growing the organisation in Kerala. K.T. Thomas became a lawyer, overcoming his father's opposition from a family that was traditionally mercantile. He started in the Kottayam court as a junior to Advocate Joseph Maliyekkal. Over the years, Thomas passed the interview and became a district judge.

During his tenure as a Supreme Court judge, he wrote a dissenting opinion on the death penalty of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, which later led to the acceptance of a mercy petition. He calls the death penalty a judicial murder. While he was a member of the Empowered Committee on the Mullaperiyar Dam, Justice Thomas submitted a report on Tamil Nadu's proposal to strengthen the dam. His last official responsibility was as the Chairman of the Law Reforms Commission.

Wife: Taruni Thomas. Children: Dr Binu Pratap Thomas, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, Dr Bipin Cherian Thomas. Daughter-in-law: Dr Meera, Meenu (Business, Kolenchery), Poornima.