Houston (PTI): Supreme Court Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan paid tributes to Martin Luther King Jr in a special ceremony in Atlanta to mark the 41st death anniversary of the anti-apartheid activist.

The chief justice, along with a delegation of Ministry of Law and Justice and Indian Law Institute, paid tributes to King in a Special Commemorative Ceremony at The King Center to observe the death anniversary of the African-American civil rights leader, who was assassinated on April 4 in 1968.

While addressing the gathering that included King's family members and local dignitaries, the Chief Justice highlighted the contribution of King in America's civil rights movement of 1970s.

Drawing similarities between King's effort and the civil disobedience movements led by Mahatma Gandhi during Indian freedom struggle, Balakrishnan said that the universal values preached and practiced by the two great leaders have immense relevance for future generations.

During his visit, the CJI addressed a gathering at the University's School of Law and also delivered a lecture on Individual Rights in India: A Perspective from the Supreme Court at the University of Georgia at Athens (UGA), Georgia.

A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in mutually identified areas was signed between UGA's Dean Rusk Center (DRC) for Legal Studies and the Indian Law Institute, of which CJI is the ex-officio President.

Balakrishnan said that individual rights is a question of "maintaining democracy and rule of law".

"From a Supreme Court's perspective, individual rights is very important because you have a right, in India, to have your case heard," said Don Johnson, Director of the School of Law's Dean Rusk Center.

CJI was accompanied by Justice Arijit Pasayat, Supreme Court Judge; T K Viswanathan, Union Law Secretary; Sanjiv Arora, Consul General of India and other delegation members.

The Gandhi Foundation of USA (GFUSA), which has a close cooperation with the King Center, was represented by Subash Razdan, Chair, Antony Thaliath, Executive Director, and its other members.