# Mukundan C. Menon

Mukundan Chembakasseriyil Menon, also known as Mukundan C. Menon (21 November 1948–12 December 2005), was a human rights activist in India. He helped found a number of India's national non-governmental human rights organizations, including PUCL and National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) in Kerala.

## Early life and education

Menon was born on November 21, 1948 at Chembakassery Veedu in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district. He was the youngest son of Pulippara Achutha Menon and Chembakassery Kalyanikutty Amma. His siblings were Saraswathi, Parvathi, Prof. Sulochana (all late), Kamalam, Kumari, Gangadhara Menon, and Aravindaksha Menon.
He completed his studies at a local school and later at St. Thomas College, Thrissur.

## Career

After graduation, he moved to Delhi, working as a freelance journalist in Delhi from 1969–70. He formed the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and started a public awareness campaign in Delhi.
Menon worked in the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights in Delhi for the release of the prisoners of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the campaign to save the lives of the two tribal citizens Kista Gowda and Bhoomaiah, who were ultimately hanged during the emergency. This work led to his own incarceration during the emergency years (1975–77). After his release, he edited the journal Third World Unity between 1978 and 1980, which became a rallying point for the adherents of the theory of the three worlds, which was embraced by the principal revolutionary trends at that time.
As the Delhi State secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, his work was instrumental in paving the way for the Supreme Court directive that the death penalty be used only in the rarest cases. His commitment to the human rights movement continued in Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram, where he worked as a journalist.
Menon's work included live reporting of massacres in Bhagalpur (1980), as well as the massacres of Sikhs during 1984. He acted as a mediator when the Ayyankali Army took the Palakkad District Collector hostage on 4 October 1996. From 1981 to 1993, as an investigative journalist based in Hyderabad, he successfully revealed many breaking stories.
From 1994, Menon was the active voice of the human rights movements in Kerala. He was elected Secretary of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO), an umbrella organization of human rights groups in 1997. He worked closely with Human Rights Watch (USA), People's Watch Tamil Nadu, and South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (Bangalore). In 1999, he received a Human Rights Award from the Middle East Malayali Association.
Menon was a regular columnist for Al Jazeera, Rediff News, Indian Currents, Meantime, Thejas, and The Milli Gazette. Menon wrote for Thejas fortnightly and ultimately became an editorial consultant and the Resident Editor of Thejas Daily. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, editor of The Milli Gazette, upon learning of Menon's death, said, "We are shocked to know of the untimely demise of our friend Mr. Mukundan C. Menon. He was a great fighter for human and civil rights in this country".
He actively spoke against police atrocities and issues related to tribal people, Dalits, and backward communities. His work brought to light issues like excessive police brutality, the death of Thangal Kunju and others in police custody in Alappuzha, and several other human rights violations.
Menon wrote against Hindutva fascism, which led to accusations of being a terrorist sympathizer by Sangh Parivar dominated media. He was jailed during the Indian Emergency period. As a human rights activist, Menon vigorously condemned the role of the security forces in human rights violations and the high level of impunity that benefited those responsible for human rights violations.
He died on 12 December 2005.

## Mukundan C Menon Award

The National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations awards the Mukundan C. Menon Award annually to human rights defenders, artists, writers, and environmental activists actively involved in defending the rights of the people. The award was instituted in honor of Menon soon after his death.
Past winners:
| Sl. No. | Name | Year | Profession |
| 1 | Dr Udayukumar | 2012 | Anti-Kudankulam nuclear plant activist |
| 2 | Ram Puniyani | 2015 | Commentator, renowned writer and rights activist |
| 3 | V.T. Rajshekar. | 2018 | Dalit journalist and editor of Dalit Voice |
| 4 | GN Saibaba | 2019 | Delhi University Professor |
| 5 | Father Stan Swamy. | 2020 | Priest and human rights activist |

## Personal life

He married Lalitha Samuel in 1973, and they had three sons together. Lalitha died in 1986 after giving birth to their third son. Eight years later, Menon remarried to a woman from Thiruvananthapuram.