Sadhan Chandra Gupta (7 November 1917 – 19 September 2015) was an Indian lawyer and politician. Gupta became the first blind parliamentarian in independent India in 1953, and later served as Advocate General of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Youth

Gupta was born in

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

on 7 November 1917.''Times of India''.
Barrister and parliamentarian Sadhan Gupta passes away
' His father, Jogesh Chandra Gupta, was a lawyer at the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

and a leader of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. Sadhan Gupta became permanently blind after contracting

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

during his childhood. Gupta went to school at the Calcutta Blind School. Later he studied at Presidency College (Economics, graduated with honours) and

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

(Law). He became involved in radical politics during his student days, joining the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

in 1939. He served as president of the Bengal Provincial Students Federation.

Legal career

Gupta enrolled as a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court in 1942. As a young lawyer, he took up many cases regarding persons under preventive detention. He attained nationwide fame when arguing in the 1945 ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

'' case "Emperor vs Shibnath Banerjee", first in the

and thereafter in the

Federal Court of India The Federal Court of India was a judicial body, established in India in 1937 under the provisions of the ''Government of India Act 1935'', with original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. It functioned until the Supreme Court of India was esta ...

.''Frontline''.
A stalwart passes away
' His actions in the "Emperor vs Shibnath Banerjee" case provoked praise from

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

. In 1947 he joined the Bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

Parliamentarian

Gupta contested the Calcutta South East seat in the 1951–1952 election, challenging Dr.

Syama Prasad Mukherjee Syama Prasad Mookerjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian barrister, educationist, politician, activist, social worker, and a minister in the state and national governments. Noted for his opposition to Quit India movement within the ...

.''The Statesman''.
Veteran Communist Sadhan Gupta dies
' Gupta finished in third place with 32,168 votes (22.24%). Gupta was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

(Lower House of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

) from the Calcutta South East constituency in a 1953 by-election, held after Mukherjee died.''The Hindu''.
Veteran Leftist Sadhan Gupta passes away
' Gupta received 58,211 votes (55.24%).Election Commission of India.
Bye-election results 1952–95
' He thus became the first blind parliamentarian in independent India. In the election he had defeated Radhabinod Pal, who was a senior lawyer. In parliament, Gupta was noted for his flawless English. He would softly type

braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

whilst listening to the debates. Whilst being a parliamentarian Gupta continued to practice law. Apart from his work at the Calcutta High Court, Gupta appeared in court cases at

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

and even

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

(in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

). Gupta was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1957 general election, from the Calcutta East constituency.''Ganashakti''.
Comrade Sadhan Gupta no more
' He obtained 143,350 votes (62.68%).

State legislator

When CPI was divided, Gupta sided with the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

. Gupta contested the Chowringhee constituency in the

1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in 1967 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front led by Ajoy Mukherjee won majority of seats in the election, and formed the first non-Congr ...

. Gupta finished in second place with 11,658 votes (31.62%), being defeated by Congress candidate

Siddhartha Shankar Ray Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal ( ...

.Election Commission of India.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
' He was elected to the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paścimabaṅga Vidhānasabhā'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal, located in eastern India. It consists of 294 members directly elected from single-seat ...

in the 1969 election from the Kalighat constituency. Gupta obtained 28,133 votes (55.18%)Election Commission of India.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1969 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
'

Left Front period

When the Left Front came to power in West Bengal in 1977, Gupta played an important role in maneuvering the various legal challenges put against its land reform programs and Operation Barga. In 1979 he was named as Additional Advocate General of West Bengal. In 1986 he was named Advocate General of West Bengal by the Left Front government, following the death of Snehangshu Kanta Acharya. He became the first visually impaired person to hold that office.

Social work

Gupta founded the National Federation of the Blind and became the first president of the organization. He also became the first president of the Indian chapter of

Disabled Peoples' International Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) is a cross disability, consumer controlled international non-governmental organization (INGO) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and with regional offices in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, Afri ...

. He served as president of various

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, such as in the insurance and ITC sectors. Apart from his legal and political career, Gupta was noted as a singer of '' ganasangeet'', ''

Rabindrasangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' (; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the first no ...

'' and

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

. Gupta died on 19 September 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Sadhan 1917 births 2015 deaths India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 West Bengal MLAs 1977–1982 Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal Indian barristers Blind lawyers Blind politicians Indian blind people Advocates general for Indian states University of Calcutta alumni Trade unionists from West Bengal 20th-century Indian lawyers Politicians from Dhaka Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Politicians from Purba Bardhaman district Indian politicians with disabilities Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971