Baharul Islam (1 March 1918 – 5 February 1993) was an Indian politician and judge of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. He was elected to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the upper 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 ...

, as a member 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 ...

. In 1972, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha to become a judge in the

Gauhati High Court The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by governor general of India on 1 March 1948 after the Government of India Act 1935 was passed, establishing the high court with effect from 5 April 1948, for the then-province of Assam. It was originall ...

, where he eventually retired as Chief Justice. He was later recalled and appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, where he delivered a judgment absolving the then-Chief Minister of Bihar,

Jagannath Mishra Jagannath Mishra (24 June 1937 – 19 August 2019) was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Bihar and as Union Council of Ministers, Minister in the Union Cabinet. He was also Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha between 1988 - 1990 ...

, in the urban cooperative bank scandal. He subsequently resigned from the Supreme Court to contest elections as a Congress party candidate and was re-elected to the

Early life

He was born in the village of

Udiana Udiana is a village in Kamrup rural district, situated in north bank of river Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or ...

Kamrup district Kamrup Rural district, or simply Kamrup district (Pron: ˈkæmˌrəp or ˈkæmˌru:p), is an administrative districts of Assam, district in the state of Assam in India formed by dividing the Undivided Kamrup district, old Kamrup district into t ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. Islam attended Gurdon High School in

Nalbari Nalbari is a small town in Nalbari district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. Nalbari is also the headquarters of Nalbari district, Nalbari District. Etymology The word ''Nalbari'' is derived from and . is a ...

, followed by

Cotton University Cotton University also known as CU, is a public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established in 2017 by the provisions of an Act from the Assam Legislative Assembly which merged Cotton College State University and Cot ...

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

and

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

Career

Islam enrolled as an advocate of the Assam High Court in 1951 and of the Supreme Court in 1958. He joined the

party in 1956. In 1962 and again in 1968, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, resigning in 1972 to be appointed a judge of the then Assam and Nagaland High Court (now

) on 20 January 1972. Islam was appointed acting chief justice of the Gauhati High Court on 11 March 1979 and became chief justice on 7 July 1979. He retired from this role on 1 March 1980. On 4 December 1980, Islam was appointed to the

in an unprecedented move, as retired judges were not typically reappointed. He resigned from the Supreme Court on 12 January 1983 to contest from

Barpeta Barpeta is a town in Barpeta district of the state of Assam in India and is district headquarters. The city is located north west of Guwahati and is one of the major cities in Western Assam. It is also called Satra ''Nagari'' (Temple town) of ...

, for 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 ...

as a Congress party candidate. However, as elections in

were postponed in the

1984 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 24, 27 and 28 December 1984 soon after the assassination of previous prime minister, Indira Gandhi, though the vote in Assam and Punjab was delayed until 1985 due to ongoing insurgency. The electio ...

, he was re-elected to the

. He was also a member of the Gauhati High Court Bar Association.

Committees

In 1987, the Islam Committee was appointed to draft legislation focused on the rights, equal opportunities, and full participation of disabled persons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Baharul Aligarh Muslim University alumni Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University alumni Justices of the Supreme Court of India 20th-century Indian judges 1918 births 1993 deaths Rajya Sabha members from Assam Indian National Congress politicians from Assam People from Kamrup district