The J&K Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) has honoured Dr K Balagopal, a human rights activist and lawyer from Andhra Pradesh, with Robert Thorp Award-2013, posthumously, for his contribution in highlighting the human rights issues in Jammu and Kashmir.
The JKCCS every year confers Robert Thorp Award to persons who have shown exemplary courage and contributed to the achievement of civil society and political rights of the people of J&K. The award was received by his colleague, Prof Babaiah on Tuesday.
The award is given in memory of Robert Thorp, a young British Army officer, who arrived in Kashmir in 1865 and fought for the right of self-determination of Kashmir.
He was killed in 1868 by forces of Maharaja Gulab Singh, a feudal ruler of Kashmir, for highlighting the miseries of Kashmiris in international media.
Dr Kandala Balagopal, born on June 10,1952, was a trained Mathematician and taught at Kakatiya University in Andhra Pradesh. An uncompromising human rights activist, Balagopal broke away from the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), with which he was associated from 1980s, on the issue of violence perpetrated by the erstwhile CPI-ML Peoples War.
During his visits to Kashmir, Balagopal worked actively for human rights in Kashmir and wrote numerous articles on Kashmir issue, questioning Indian occupation in Kashmir.
Fifth child of a middle class Telugu Brahmin couple, his education happened in various towns across AP owing to his father’s occupation. After pre-university education at Kavali and BSc in Tirupati, he took an MSc and PhD in Mathematics from the Regional Engineering College in Warangal before proceeding to Delhi for a post-doctoral at the Indian Statistical Institute. He returned to Warangal in 1981, where he started teaching Maths at the Kakatiya University. This was also the time when he decided on social activism and joined the APCLC, which he left after two decades to form Human Rights Forum.
Balagopal, who played a commendable role in exposing the institutional impunity enjoyed by the Indian military force and his unflinching support for the right of self determination of people of Jammu and Kashmir, died of lung aspiration following bleeding of stomach ulcer in Hyderabad on October 8, 2009.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / November 29th, 2013