Former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama described late Chief Justice, Kamal Kumar as a dedicated, humble and honest person who Fiji’s judiciary has lost too soon.
Speaking at Kumar’s Homecoming Service in Lautoka today, Bainimarama said the Chief Justice was a person that believed in the rule of law, that every person is equal under the Constitution and a firm arbiter to the Bill of Rights under the 2013 Constitution.
Bainimarama said Justice Kumar understood that this was the cornerstone for all those Justices that served the bench and ensured that constant training on the law was conducted to those that served the bench.
Justice Kumar was educated at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia and graduated with a bachelor of law.
He worked as a lawyer in Australia, and then in Fiji before being appointment to the High Court of Fiji, Civil Division in 2013.
From 2018, he served as the head of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission and served as the president of Dakshina India Andhra Sangam Fiji of Lautoka Branch for two consecutive terms until 2012.
He was appointed acting Chief Justice following the retirement of Justice Anthony Gates in April 2019.
In January, Justice Kumar was suspended by President Wiliame Katonivere after allegations of misbehaviour.
He suffered a short illness before succumbing to it last Tuesday.
He is survived by his wife Sunita Devi and two sons, Krishneel Kumar and Shivneel Kumar who now reside in Brisbane, Australia.
He was buried at a cemetery in his hometown of Lautoka.
