Hyderabad: Renowned lawyer and human rights champion Bhuvanagiri Chandrasekhar died at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences here today, family sources said. Chandrasekhar (47) had been suffering from bone marrow cancer for the past few months and was admitted to NIMS for treatment recently.
Hailing from Guntur district, Chandrasekhar was a founder member of the Human Rights Forum after having worked with the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee. He championed the cause of Dalits and fought the infamous Tsundur massacre case as special public prosecutor and secured conviction for the accused.
He secured Presidential pardon for two accused in the sensational Chilakaluripet bus burning case, in which 27 people were burnt alive, and saved them from capital punishment just hours before it was to be executed. Chandrasekhar was closely associated with human rights activists like Balagopal and K G Kannabiran.
He presented a dossier to the National Human Rights Commission on the fake encounter killings by police in Kurnool and Guntur districts when IPS officer P S R Anjaneyulu was Superintendent of Police and won compensation for the victims’ families.
The NHRC established that majority of the cases referred by Chandrasekhar were indeed fake encounters. Andhra Pradesh Rural Development Minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad mourned the death of Chandrasekhar. “I lost my soul-mate,” the minister said in a condolence message.