Dipankar Datta

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Judge of the Supreme Court of India

title: "Dipankar Datta" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1965-births", "living-people", "judges-of-the-calcutta-high-court", "20th-century-indian-judges", "21st-century-indian-lawyers", "chief-justices-of-the-bombay-high-court", "university-of-calcutta-alumni", "justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-india"] description: "Judge of the Supreme Court of India" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipankar_Datta" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Judge of the Supreme Court of India ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Dipankar Datta
image	[[File:Justice Dipankar Datta.jpg
office	Judge of the Supreme Court of India
termstart	12 December 2022
appointer	Droupadi Murmu
nominator	Uday Umesh Lalit
office1	45th Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court
termstart1	28 April 2020
termend1	11 December 2022
appointer1	Ram Nath Kovind
nominator1	Sharad Arvind Bobde
predecessor1	B. P. Dharmadhikari
successor1	R. D. Dhanuka
office2	Judge of the Calcutta High Court
appointer2	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
nominator2	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
termstart2	22 June 2006
termend2	27 April 2020
birth_date
alma_mater	University of Calcutta
birth_place	Kolkata, West Bengal
relations	Amitava Roy (brother-in-law)
::

Dipankar Datta (born 9 February 1965) is an Indian jurist who is currently serving as a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is a former chief justice of the Bombay High Court and former judge of the Calcutta High Court.

Early life and education

Datta was born in 1965 in a Bengali family. He came from a family with legal background. His father late Salil Kumar Datta, was a former Judge of the Calcutta High Court. His brother in law Justice Amitava Roy, is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Datta acquired his Bachelor of Laws from the Hazra Law College, University of Calcutta. He was in the first batch of 5 years Law course in the year 1989.

Career

After completing his Bachelor of Laws he was enrolled as an advocate on 16 November 1989. He started practising at the High Court at Calcutta and worked as a state panel lawyer also. He also practised at the Supreme Court of India and other High Courts at other states in India. He has specialized in Constitutional matters and Civil cases. Datta was the Counsel for the Union of India since 1998. He had appeared on behalf of the School Education Department, University of Calcutta, West Bengal Board in Secondary Education and the West Bengal School Service Commission. He was the Junior Standing Counsel for the State of West Bengal from 16 May 2002 to 16 January 2004. Datta was a guest lecturer in the Hazra Law College from the year 1996–1997 to 1999–2000.

In High Courts

He was elevated to the Bench of the Calcutta High Court as a permanent Judge on 22 June 2006 and served there till April 2020.

On 23 April 2020, he was appointed as the chief justice of the Bombay High Court and took oath on 28 April 2020.

In Supreme Court

On 12 December 2022, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is due to retire on 8 February 2030.

Controversies

In August 2025, Justice Dipankar Datta faced criticism for his remarks during a Supreme Court hearing of a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The case stemmed from Gandhi's statements during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022, where he alleged that Chinese troops had occupied 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory and were "thrashing Indian Army soldiers" in Arunachal Pradesh. Justice Datta questioned the credibility of Gandhi's claims, stating, "How do you get to know that 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory was occupied by China? What is the credible material? If you are a true Indian, you would not say this." He further asked why such statements were made on social media instead of in Parliament. These remarks drew objections from Congress leaders and the INDIA bloc, who deemed them "unwarranted" and an overreach into political rights, with Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das asserting that Justice Datta had "no business questioning Rahul Gandhi's Indianness." Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also defended her brother, stating that it is not the judiciary's role to determine who qualifies as a "true Indian." Despite the controversy, the Supreme Court stayed the defamation proceedings against Gandhi.

References

(12 December 2022). "Bombay HC Chief Justice Dipankar Datta elevated to Supreme Court". Hindustan Times.
"Calcutta High Court biography".
Hakim, Sharmeen. (2022-12-12). "Who Is Justice Dipankar Datta?".
"বিমান-ট্রেন বন্ধ, কাজে যোগ দিতে গাড়িতেই মুম্বই-শিলং পাড়ি বিচারপতিদের". anandabazar.com.
"Calcutta High Court - Judges".
(23 April 2020). "President appoints Calcutta HC judge Dipankar Dutta as Chief Justice of Bombay High Court". The Indian Express.
Hon'ble Justices. "HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE".
(2022-12-13). "Justice Dipankar Datta sworn-in as Supreme Court judge".
(2022-12-12). "Ex-Bombay HC Chief Justice Dipankar Datta takes oath as Supreme Court judge". The Hindu.
(2025-08-05). "Justice Dipankar Datta had no business questioning Rahul Gandhi's Indianness, says Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das". The Economic Times.
"Supreme Court Stays Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case; Says, 'If You Were True Indian, You Wouldn't Say All This'".
(2025-08-05). "INDIA bloc says Supreme Court observations on Rahul Gandhi is 'unwarranted'; Priyanka Gandhi says judges can't decide who is a true Indian". The Hindu.

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