21st Chief Justice of India
Ranganath Mishra
(25 November 1926 ? 13 September 2012) was the 21st
Chief Justice of India
, serving from 25 September 1990 to 24 November 1991. He was also the first chairman of the
National Human Rights Commission of India
.
[3]
He also served as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha from the
Congress Party
between 1998 and 2004. He is the second Supreme court judge to become a
Rajya Sabha
member after
Baharul Islam
who was also elected as
Indian National Congress
member.
[4]
Background and family
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Ranganath Misra was born on 25 November 1926 in
Banapur
,
Odisha
into an
Odia
Brahmin
family. His father,
Godavaris Mishra
(sometimes spelt Godabarish Misra), was an Odia litterateur and congress politician who became education minister of Orissa state in 1941 while India was still under British rule. In this capacity, Godavaris was instrumental in the founding of
Utkal University
.
Ranganath was the youngest of three sons. His eldest brother,
Lokanath Misra
, was a prominent politician belonging to
Swatantra Party
(led by
Rajaji
) and later the
Janata Party
. He served for several terms as a member of the
Rajya Sabha
(upper house of Indian parliament) and also as governor of
Assam
and
Nagaland
. Loknath Misra's son,
Pinaki Misra
, is a
Lok Sabha
MP
belonging to the
Biju Janata Dal
. Ranganath's second brother, Raghunath Misra, was a politician belonging to the
Congress Party
who was elected to the Orissa Legislative Assembly from the Banpur constituency. Raghunath's son,
Dipak Misra
was the 45th
Chief Justice of India
; he was in office from 28 August 2017 to 2 October 2018.
Ranganath studied at Banpur High School and P.M. Academy and later at
Ravenshaw College
and
Allahabad University
. At a young age, he was married to Sumitra Misra, a woman of his own community and similar background, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. In 1950, they had a son, Devananda Misra, who became a lawyer and a senior advocate in the Supreme Court and the Orissa High Court. In 2009, Misra and his wife suffered a tremendous personal loss with the death of their son, Devananda Misra, who died aged 59.
Legal career
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On 18 September 1950, Misra got enrolled as advocate of
Orissa High Court
,
Cuttack
, where he practiced law until 1969, when he was appointed a Permanent Judge of the Orissa High Court. He served as the acting Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court from 6 November 1980 to 16 January 1981, and on the latter date, he took office as permanent Chief Justice of the Orissa High court. He was appointed Judge of the
Supreme Court of India
in 1983. He became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India on 25 September 1990 and retired on 24 November 1991.
1984 anti-Sikh riots
[
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]
Ranganath Misra was the sole member of the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry, a commission that headed the investigation of
1984 anti-Sikh riots
and produced a report.
Jagjit Singh Aurora
, the former
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief
of the
Indian Army
and a member of the
Citizen's Justice Committee
, commented that "The terms of reference of the commission were biased against the victims, the victims were forced to come to the investigation with the burden of proof on them".
[5]
He indicted 19 workers of the Congress Party who were charged by the
People's Union for Civil Liberties
of having abetted the riots, but gave clean chit to the Congress Party.
[6]
[7]
Retirement and death
[
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]
He served as the Chief Scout of the All India Boy Scouts Association since 1992.
[8]
He became the first Chairman of the
National Human Rights Commission of India
in 1993. He was member of Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2004 from the Congress Party headed by Sonia Gandhi.
[9]
After prolonged illness, Ranganath Misra died on 13 September 2012 at a private hospital in
Bhubaneswar
. He was survived by his wife Sumitra Misra and grandson Anand Misra.
[10]
References
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External links
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