Vaishnavi Nair
Hon’ble Thiru. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh is a sitting Judge of the Madras High Court. On December 19, 2016, the Collegium chaired by the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court Hon’ble Mr Justice SK Kaul suggested the appointment of N Anand Venkatesh as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court. The Supreme Court collegium approved the suggestion in December 2017, and he was appointed on June 4, 2018.
The Collegium, chaired by the then Chief Justice of India-Hon’ble Mr Justice SA Bobde, accepted the nomination of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh as Permanent Judge of Madras High Court on February 12, 2020.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Justice Venkatesh was born to MA. Nanda and Choodamani on 4th July 1969, in Tamil Nadu.
He pursued his school education at Saint Mary’s School, Perambur and further completed his education in law from Ambedkar law college, Chennai.
He used to be quite interested in sports, notably cricket, which he played up to the senior division of the TNCA, He’s also an avid music fan and enjoys reading books on a range of topics.
He is a first-generation lawyer in his family.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
While pursuing his law degree he joined the office of his reverend senior Mr B. Ramammoorthy and continued working in his office for the next five years before starting his independent practice.
He had all-around experience before the Hon’ble High Court of Madras in Original, Appellate, Criminal, and Writ Jurisdiction, as well as Service issues before the Central Administrative Tribunal. He also practised in subordinate civil and criminal courts of Chennai Bench.
Several times, the High Court designated him as Amicus Curiae, and he has frequently submitted articles on numerous legal matters, both civil and criminal, which have been published in law journals.
He worked as a contact person at the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy and was a member of the Consultation and Drafting Committee, which proposed a myriad of reforms in the domain of commercial litigation throughout the country. As a consequence, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division, and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 was enacted.
MAJOR JUDGMENTS
He has made numerous headlines for his unconventional approach to situations.
His orders have ranged from wanting to hold the state government accountable for drunken crimes to forming a criminal justice reform committee, proposing amendments to the POCSO Act to exclude consensual relationships among minors, and illustrating why cutting a cake with a tricolour map and an Ashok Chakra layout was not traitorous, and the latest judgement relating to the LGBTQ community.
LGBTQ Rights
S Sushma v. Commissioner of Police[1]
“Ignorance is no justification for normalizing any form of discrimination,” the Madras High Court said while giving a series of directives to help the LGBTQIA+ community.
The decision of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh highlighted society’s attitude toward same-sex partnerships, as well as how he had to overcome personal preconceptions to better comprehend the subject.
In the ruling, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh banned Conversion Therapy on June 7, 2021. He proposed extensive steps to enlighten society and different departments of government, including the police and the courts, to eliminate biases towards the LGBTQIA+ population. He advocated for improvements to school and university curricula to better educate students about the LGBTQIA+ community.
He said unequivocally that the duty of changing, deconstructing stigma, and understanding the personal experiences of the LGBTQ community falls squarely on society. The court noted the lack of particular legislation to safeguard the rights of queer people and noted that the constitutional courts must remedy this deficit with relevant instructions to assure the safety of such couples from harassment based on oppression.
S Jai Singh v. State and Anr.[2]
“What is perhaps the novel is the growing understanding that corporal punishment is an act of violence on children,” the Court said.
Corporal punishment is a reflection of the significant power disparity between instructors and students. If the courts uphold physical punishment, schools will continue to be places of tyranny. The case mentioned above was concerning the death of a primary school kid who was ordered to “duck waddle” as punishment for arriving late to school.
Children in this country still being subjected to a sadistic, inhumane culture of corporal punishment: Madras High Court expresses dismay
“Corporal punishment is abusive and violates a child’s rights and dignity,” the Madras High Court ruled back in March 2021.
State v. D. Senthilkumar[3]
D. Senthilkumar was offended by the way the Indian National Flag was depicted in a function and claimed that the participants had purposefully disrespected the National Flag by cutting it into the shape of a cake, which constituted an offence under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.
Justice Venkatesh exonerated the 2,500 participants in the celebration while remarking on “compulsive patriotism and its fetishization” by halting the prosecution proceedings in the case.
He stated, citing Nani Palkhiwala and Rabindranath Tagore[4], that “the symbolisation of national pride is not synonymous to patriotism, just as cutting a cake is not unpatriotic” under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
CONCLUSION
Hon’ble Mr Justice N. Anand Venkatesh has been a great asset to the Indian judicial system with his honesty and incomparable skills. Aside from his decisions, he is known among attorneys for being “strict” and for his firm attitude against adjournments. The most remarkable aspect of him is that he is not bound by any one jurisdiction.
He has had so much experience as a lawyer over the years that there isn’t a single field of law that he isn’t comfortable with, which is reflected in his judgements.
Views are personal.
(Author is a First-Year Law Student at Kirit P. Mehta School of Law, NMIMS, Mumbai)
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[1] W.P. No. 7284 of 2021
[2] C.C. No. 5604 of 2019
[3] Crl. O.P. No. 15656 of 2020
[4] Karan Tripathi, How Madras HC Rejected Hyper Nationalism to Uphold National Pride, The Quint, 24 March 2021, available at https://www.thequint.com/news/law/madras-hc-rejects-hyper-nationalism-while-upholding-national-pride#read-more (last accessed on 18 June 2021).
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