| Sudhi Ranjan Das | |
|---|---|
| Sudhi Ranjan Das, Chief Justice of India | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1894 Telirbagh , Bangladesh, India |
| Died | 18 September 1977 |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | University of Calcutta University College London |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| As of Dec 20, 2007 Source: [2] |
|
Sudhi Ranjan Das (Bengali: সুধী রঞ্জন দাস Shudhi Rônjon Dash) (1 October 1894 – 18 September 1977) (S.R. Das) was the Chief Justice of India from 1955 to 1955 and then again 1 December 1955 to 31 January 1959. He retired from the Supreme Court 30 September 1959.
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S.R. Das was born into the prominent Das family of Telirbagh (now in Bangladesh). He was born to Rakhal Chandra Das and his wife Binodini Das. He attended the university school of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, where he was one of the first four pupils of Rabindranath Tagore.
He graduated from the Bangabasi College, Calcutta, and then completed his LL.B. at University College, London in which he obtained a first class (1918). He was called to the Bar in 1918 at Gray's Inn, London.
Sudhi Ranjan Das was married to the former Swapna Majumdar, the daughter of S.B.Majumdar, an ICS officer. By his wife, he had two sons Group Captain Suranjan Das and Suhrid Ranjan Das, and one daughter. The daughter Anjana married the barrister and future Law Minister Ashoke Sen. His children were all named by Rabindranath Tagore; however, at least one son, the younger, bore a name already used in the Das family.
Both sons died young. The elder, Group Captain Suranjan Das, a test pilot, died in a plane crash, leaving a daughter, Ranjana and son, Sudipto, by his first marriage. The younger son, Suhrid Ranjan Das (alias "Manik"), died in December 1966 in a motor accident near Angul, Orissa, in which his elder daughter also died; his wife and younger daughter survived the accident. Sudhi Ranjan Das was survived by his daughter Anjana (nicknamed "Kajal") and her husband Ashoke Kumar Sen, and by seven grandchildren.[1]
He came from a family of lawyers: his brother, P.R. Das, was an advocate. His cousin, Chittaranjan Das, was a lawyer, becoming the Mayor of Calcutta as well as the President of the Indian National Congress. Another cousin, Satish Ranjan Das, was the Advocate-General of Bengal and later the Law Member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy. Yet another cousin, J.R. Das, sat in the High Court at Rangoon. One of his pupils, Amal Kumar Sarkar, went on to became a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India for a short period. Das was also a cousin of two prominent Bengali educationists and feminists - the sisters Sarala Roy, founder of the Gokhale Memorial Girls' College in Calcutta and a prominent person in Bengal's social affairs, and Lady Abala Bose, wife of scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose and also a prominent person of her time.
S.R. Das joined the Calcutta Bar in 1919 and also lectured at the University Law College. He is known to have had an incredible capacity for hard work. His erudition and perspicacity soon brought him to the forefront in the legal profession. Justice Das was appointed a Judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1942, and, finally, a Judge of the Federal Court of India on January 20, 1950, a few days after that, to become one of the first batch of Judges of the Supreme Court of India. He was a very illustrious Chief Justice of this Court from 1956-1959. His vast knowledge and experience and sterling qualities were utilised also in the spheres of education and public life. He was the Upacharya of Visva-Bharati from 1959 to 1965 and then a member of the University Grants Commission from 1962 to 1965. In November, 1961, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission to enquire into the grievances of the Sikh Community.
In November 1963, he constituted a one-man Commission which investigated allegations of corruption and misuse of power against Chief Minister Kairon of Punjab who lost his office as a result of his findings. He was also invited to become the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Statesman Newspaper at a critical juncture in its history.
Many recall Das' acts of charity, his proverbial gentleness with the members of the Bar, and mildness of his manner but firmness in the discharge of what he conceived to be his duty.
He carried a reputation for being a man of simple habits and gentle of disposition. Das shared a great deal of sympathy for the poor. A prominent member of the Brahmo Samaj movement, he endeavoured at all times to pursue earnestly the sect's ideals, including equal rights for all individuals regardless of casts, sex or creed.
Das was known to have a lively and wholesome sense of humour as is evident from his farewell speech on his retirement from this Court.
Gopi Mohan Das
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Rakhal Chandra Das Rai Bahadhur S.B.Majumdar
| |
Sudhi Ranjan Das--------Swapna Majumdar
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Suranjan Das Anjana Suhrid Ranjan
(d. 1970) (d. 2000) (d. Dec 1966)
m1. (div) md. md. Roma Sarkar (decd. Sept, 1983)
____________________ Ashoke Kumar Sen |
| | 1 dau, 1 dau (decd)
Sudipto Das Ranjita Basu(decd) | |
md -------------
Sanchita Shome |
| Mita Das
Sumantro Das md. to Bijon Sengupta
|
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Krishna Shyamali Anindya Aditya
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Khitishchandra Chaudhuri |
Upacharya, Vishwa Bharati 1959-1965 |
Succeeded by Kalidas Bhattacharya |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by B. K. Mukherjea |
Chief Justice of India 31 January 1956 – 30 September 1959 |
Succeeded by Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha |