Having graduated from the very first batch of the National Law School, Mr. Dayan Krishnan happens to be from the rare class of “self-made” lawyers, in a profession where supposedly lineage plays an instrumental role to make one’s way up. After graduating from NLS in 1993 he managed to work, in his very first job, under, Santosh Hedge, a former judge of the Supreme Court and former Solicitor General of India. Owing to the paucity of connections in Delhi and considering the nature of the profession he continued under Hedge’s guidance till 1999, after which he set up his own practice. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2014 alongside Anup Bhumbhani and Amit Sibal.
Being selective in taking up cases was at liberty that Krishnan admittedly never had. However, he took everything that came his way and has labelled the opportunities he got as, “an accident or a coincidence”. Few of these “accidents” were, his being counsel for the Kavery Kerala petition and furthermore, his handling of the 2012 Nirbhaya Delhi Gang Rape case, which he volunteered to do for free. On the civil side, he specialises in telecom, having represented S-Tel in the 2G spectrum tender notification in the Delhi High Court.
Mr. Krishnan has been engaged in the following international assigments vis-a-vis extradition law
• Appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in the matter pertaining to the extradition of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. (2014)
• Appointed as Special Counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation to represent the Government of India in the matter relating to the extradition of Mr. Varley from the United Kingdom in the Goa child sex abuse case. (2012)
• Appointed as Special Counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation to represent the Government of India for the extradition of Ravi Shankaran from the United Kingdom. (2011)
• Appointed as Special Counsel for the National Investigation Agency to be member of a four-member team which visited Chicago to interrogate David Coleman Headly, one of the accused in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on 26.11.2008. (2010)
On his trip to the Justice City, he is keen to explore and elucidate upon matters pertaining to extradition law owing to the lack of discussion around it. India has about 110 extradition requests pending in several countries and in the recent past, various countries have been awfully meddling and troublesome in handing fugitives over. Talk with him will help students at NALSAR to understand, explore and delve greater into the questions related to the niche area of extradition law practice.
Follow the hashtag #DayanKrishnanonExtraditio
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