Victor was an investigative journalist, political critic, a theorist, social activist and also an author of several books.
He was unable to take part in the insurrection as he was badly wounded months before while making bombs for it and had to undergo surgery at a private hospital in Colombo.
In that he claimed that the prevailing discriminatory caste system in Sri Lankan society had been an important contributory factor to the 1971 insurrection.
This is a new dimension that Victor Ivan added to the intellectual stock of reflective analyses of the social issues of Sri Lanka.
Ivan in his book "Pansale Viplawaya" published in Sinhala in 2009, which has been translated into English titled "Revolt in the Temple-The Buddhist Revival up to Gangodawila Some Thera –"[10] has made an in-depth analysis of this proposition explaining the impact of caste discrimination on Buddhist political trends that emerge intermittently in Sri Lanka.
Victor Ivan entered the field of journalism in 1986, at a time when the country was in turmoil with the outbreak of violent youth insurrections triggered by the Sinhalese in the South and the Tamils in the North.
Revelation of the presence of radioactive substances in the products of the Nestlé company in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster was one of the most remarkable articles published by the magazine Ravaya.
Thus, when all other media agencies remained silent, Ravaya adopted a bold policy of expressing its views openly.
During this period, a large number of media people were assassinated by the JVP and the security forces alike on account of their taking the side of either of the two parties.
Victor Ivan, through Ravaya, appealed to the people to ignore the orders of the rebels and exercise their right to vote.
After the defeat of the JVP by the security forces, Ivan upgraded the magazine Ravaya to a tabloid-size weekly newspaper.
Upon her retirement, President Chandrika Kumaranatunga got the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to vest a valuable piece of state-owned land in her name.
Ivan wrote a book titled "Chaura Rajina" [11][12] in Sinhala about Chandrika Kumaratunga and the period of her rule.
He boldly challenged the legitimacy of the law itself and argued successfully that though the parliament is entitled to safeguard its privileges, the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry has no right to sit in judgment against people and punish them without having a proper trial procedure approved by law which is an essential prerequisite for instituting legal action and imposing punishments.
[citation needed] In view of the wide publicity given this fundamental objection that he raised against the law itself and the pressure exerted by the opposition parties and the international organisations, the parliament was compelled to abolish the parliamentary privileges law and stop the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry sitting on cases against media people and imposing punishments on them.
Under the circumstance, Victor Ivan, began to delve into the character of the Attorney General himself on the presumption that he too, might be a corrupt person as much as the accused he was safeguarding.
It came to light that the District Judge who heard this case had acted in favour of the Attorney General and in a manner which is oppressive to the chemical engineer and was contrary to the rule of law.
At the same time he continued to voice against the Magistrate accused of rape, the District Judge who chaired the case against Silva and Attorney General which ultimately resulted in the Chief Justice being compelled to appoint two tripartite committees to investigate the allegations made against the Magistrate and the District Judge.
Apart from this, he filed a case in the Supreme Court against the Attorney General seeking his expulsion from the legal profession on the grounds of his corrupt behaviour.
She wanted to save her friend from the unfortunate mess he had fallen into and also to find a person like Sarath N. Silva whom she could manipulate in wielding her power over the judiciary.
Malimath, a retired Chief justice from Kerala to Sri Lanka to observe the proceedings of this historic trial'.
The International Bar Association, in a report published in November 2001 on caption "Sri Lanka: Failing to Protect the Rule of Law and the Independence of the Judiciary" has given a comprehensive account of the illegal manner and ludicrous nature in which this inquiry was held.
Victor Ivan, throughout the tenure of the new Chief Justice vehemently and persistently criticised all illegal actions and injustices that he committed in the arena of judiciary.
Based on a comprehensive study of the telephone correspondences over a period of three months he was able to prove that the chief justice has had connections with the underworld.