Born on November 7, 1917, Sadhan Chandra Gupta was an eminent barrister and parliamentarian. He became the first blind parliamentarian in independent India in 1953, and later served as Advocate General of West Bengal.

Gupta was born in Dacca on the eve of the October Revolution, on November 7, 1917. Sadhan Gupta became permanently blind after suffering from smallpox during his childhood. After receiving his schooling from the Calcutta Blind School, he studied at the Presidency College (Economics, graduated with honours) and Calcutta University (Law). During his student days, he became involved in radical politics and joined the Communist Party of India in 1939 and served as the president of the Bengal Provincial Students Federation.

His father, Jogesh Chandra Gupta, was a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court and a leader of the Indian National Congress. Following his father’s footsteps, Gupta enrolled as a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court in 1942. Being a young lawyer, he took up many cases regarding persons under preventive detention. He gained nationwide fame when arguing in the 1945 habeas corpus case “Emperor vs Shibnath Banerjee”, first in the Calcutta High Court and thereafter in the Federal Court of India. His actions of in the “Emperor vs Shibnath Banerjee” case provoked praise from Mahatma Gandhi. He further joined the bar at the Middle temple in 1947.

Challenging Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Gupta contested the Calcutta South East seat in the 1951–1952 election. Gupta finished in third place with 32,168 votes (22.24%). Gupta was elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament of India) from the Calcutta South East constituency in a 1953 by-election, held after Mukherjee died. Gupta received 58,211 votes (55.24%). He thus became the first blind parliamentarian in independent India. In the election he had defeated a senior lawyer named Radhabinod Pal.

In parliament, Gupta was noted for his flawless English. He would softly type braille 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, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Patna, Allahabad, Cuttack, Jamshedpur, Jabalpur and even Chittagong (in East Pakistan).

Gupta was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1957 general election, from the Calcutta East constituency. He obtained 143,350 votes (62.68%).

When CPI was divided, Gupta sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Gupta contested the Chowringhee constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 1967. Gupta finished in second place with 11,658 votes (31.62%), being defeated by Congress candidate Siddhartha Shankar Ray.

He was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in the 1969 election from the Kalighat constituency. Gupta obtained 28,133 votes (55.18%) When the Left Front came to power in West Bengal in 1977, Gupta played an important role in manoeuvring 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.

Following the death of Snehangshu Kanta Acharya in 1986, he was named Advocate General of West Bengal by the Left Front government. Thus, becoming the first visually impaired person to hold that office.

He was also the founder of National Federation of the Blind and became the first president of the organization. He was also the first president of the Indian chapter of Disabled Peoples’ International.

He served as president of various trade unions, such as in the insurance and ITC sectors. Apart from being a legal personality, Gupta was also the singer of ganasangeet, Rabindrasangeet and folk songs. He took his heavenly abode on 19 September 2015.