The mortal remains of eminent jurist V.R. Krishna Iyer, who passed away here on Thursday, were consigned to the flames with full state honours at Ravipuram, near here, on Friday evening.
People from all walks of life paid homage to Justice Iyer as the body was kept at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium for almost seven hours and thereafter at his residence, Satgamaya. They came from different parts of the city and elsewhere in Kerala and other States and included Ministers, judicial officers, religious heads, political leaders, lawyers and activists.
Kerala Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, who came early to pay tributes, said the jurist stood for the rights of the oppressed and marginalised sections of society.
After people were allowed to pay homage at Satgamaya for close to an hour, the jurist’s elder son, Ramesh, started performing the last rites. Dhruva, Justice Iyer’s grandson, arrived even as the last rites were under way. Soon thereafter, the rituals were completed and the body was taken to an ambulance amid chanting of hymns.
The police controlled traffic along the route to the Ravipuram crematorium as the ambulance moved accompanied by a long convoy of vehicles along the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road, along which people had lined up. The ambulance reached the crematorium around 6.30 p.m. and soon afterwards guns boomed thrice and the sound of bugles filled the air as the police accorded a guard of honour. After a last round of rites, Mr. Ramesh placed embers brought from Justice Iyer’s house on the jurist’s body before it was consigned to flames at the gas crematorium around 7 p.m.