Justice V.N. Khare was Chief Justice of India from 19 December 2002 to 2 May 2004. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of India from 21 March 1997 until he was elevated to the position of Chief Justice of India.
Justice Khare was born in Allahabad on 2 May 1939. He lived in Allahabad for much of his life and was educated at Allahabad University. Justice Khare started his career as an Advocate in the Allahabad High Court in 1961, where he practised on Civil, Writ and Revenue petitions. He was appointed Chief Standing Counsel for the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
On 25 June 1983, Justice Khare was appointed a Judge of the Allahabad High Court. Coincidentally, this was also the day that India won the cricket World Cup in London. Justice Khare was himself a First Class cricket player, playing for the state of Uttar Pradesh in Ranji Trophy matches in 1958.
In early 1996, Justice Khare was appointed Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, from where he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India a year later.
As an Advocate in 1975, Justice Khare and his uncle, S.C. Khare, represented Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, in her famous case against Raj Narain, alleging electoral malpractices. He was responsible for advocating the case that got the order of the High Court stayed until an appeal could be filed in the Supreme Court. The adverse and ambiguous decision of the Supreme Court led to the imposition of Emergency in India for a period of 19 months, the only suspension of democracy the country has seen since Independence in 1947.
During his tenure as Chief Justice of India, Justice Khare was confronted with the failure of the justice system in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots following the Godhra train burning. His decision to reopen the cases provided some recourse for victims of the riot. Speaking to The Hindu newspaper when he retired he said, "I found there was complete collusion between the accused and the prosecution in Gujarat, throwing rule of law to the winds. The Supreme Court had to step in to break the collusion to ensure protection to the victims and the witnesses. I was anguished and pained by the turn of events during the trial of the riot cases but was determined to salvage the criminal justice delivery system."
Since retiring as Chief Justice of India, Justice Khare comments occasionally on national television and press on issues of jurisprudence. His comments on the Jessica Lal murder case echoed the sentiments expressed during the Gujarat riots.
Justice Khare was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour in 2006.
A biography of Justice Khare is available at the Supreme Court of India's website.
| Preceded by G. B. Pattanaik |
Chief Justice of India 19 December 2002– 2 May 2004 |
Succeeded by S. Rajendra Babu |