Sudhi Ranjan Das (1 October 1894 – 18 September 1977) was the 5th

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outg ...

, serving from 1 February 1956 to 30 September 1959. Das also served as chairman of '' The Statesman''.Biography on Supreme Court of India's NIC webpage
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Background and education

S.R. Das was born in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

into the prominent Baidya Brahmin Das family (originally Dasgupta) of Telirbagh. He was born to Rakhal Chandra Das and Binodini Das. He attended Patha Bhavana,

Santiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...

, where he was one of the first four pupils of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

. After finishing his intermediate examinations at the

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in Asia. ...

, he moved on to the Bangabasi College which was affiliated to the

University of Calcutta 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 ...

from which he graduated. He later studied law at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and was awarded first-class honours LL.B. from

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1918. He was called to the Bar in 1918 at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, London.

Judicial career

He was elevated to the Bench as an Additional Judge of Calcutta High Court in 1942. He became a Puisne Judge, Calcutta High Court in 1944. He served as the Chief Justice of Punjab High Court from 1949 to 1950. He was appointed to the Federal Court/Supreme Court of India in 1950 days before the commencement of the new Constitution. He officiated twice as Acting Chief Justice of India before holding the highest Judicial office of the country- Chief Justice of India for over three years. He retired on 30 September 1959. Over the course of his career on the Supreme Court, Das authored 160 judgments and sat on 560 benches. During Das's tenure as Chief Justice, the Supreme Court grew from eight to eleven judges. Six of the ten judges that Das appointed to the Court would eventually serve as Chief Justice. By being

he administered oath of office to 1st President of India

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

when he was elected as President for second term in 1957 Indian presidential election.

Family life

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 a daughter, Anjana. His daughter married his junior counsel

Ashoke Sen Ashoke Sen FRS (; born 1956) is an Indian theoretical physicist and distinguished professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore. A former distinguished professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Pra ...

, who later became Union Law Minister. His children were all named by Rabindranath Tagore. Deshbandhu

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (friend of the country), was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian Independence Movement and the political guru of Indi ...

Sarala Roy Sarala Roy (1861-1946) was an Indian educator, feminist, and social activist. She was one of the first women to matriculate from Calcutta University, and was the first woman to be a member of the University Senate. She founded a school for girl ...

, Abhla Bose and Satish Ranjan Das are his cousins.

1, Safdurjung Road

The bungalow at 1, Safdurjung Road used by then Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

as her residence was priorly inhabited by Chief Justice S.R. Das. This bungalow witnessed the assassination of the PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1984. It is now a museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Sudhi Ranjan 1894 births 1977 deaths Bengali Hindus Brahmos Das family (Telirbagh) Judges of the Calcutta High Court 20th-century Indian judges Chief justices of India Alumni of the University of London Alumni of University College London Scottish Church College alumni Bangabasi College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Visva-Bharati University alumni People associated with Santiniketan 20th-century Indian lawyers Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws