2607:FEA8:C3A0:2C0:5194:8F79:F206:8224 at 03:21, 26 October 2022

2022-10-26T03:21:46Z

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{{Short description|Bangladeshi war hero (1927–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Major General]]
| name = Chitta Ranjan Dutta
| honorific_suffix = [[Bir Uttam]]
| native_name = চিত্তরঞ্জন দত্ত
| native_name_lang = bn
| image = Chitta Ranjan Dutta.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date |1929|1|1|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age |2020|8|26|1929|1|1|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Shillong]], [[Assam]], [[British India]]
| death_place = [[Boca Raton]], [[Florida]], [[USA]]
| placeofburial =
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{ubl|{{flag|Bangladesh}}|{{flag|Pakistan}} (before 1971)}}
| branch = {{plainlist|*{{army|Bangladesh}}
* {{army|Pakistan}}}}
| serviceyears = {{plainlist|
* (1971–1974) [[Bangladesh]]
* (1952–1971) [[Pakistan]]}}
| rank = [[Major General]]
| unit = [[57th Wilde's Rifles (Frontier Force)|Wilde's Rifles(PIF)]]
| commands = {{plainlist|
*Director General of [[Border Guards Bangladesh|BGB]]
*[[Bangladesh Forces|BDF]] Sector 4; Sector Commander}}
| battles = {{ubl|[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]]|[[Bangladesh Liberation War]]}}
| awards = {{flagicon image|Bir Uttom ribbon bar.svg|20px}} [[Bir Uttom]]<ref>[http://www.molwa.gov.bd/site/page/3f3b7628-3ac7-4927-bf6f-c9203fae601f/Bir-Uttam Bangladesh Gazette of 15 December, 1973; Ministry of Liberation War Affairs]</ref>
}}


'''Chitta Ranjan Dutta''' [[Bir Uttom]] (1 January 1927 – 26 August 2020),<ref>{{cite news |title=Bir Uttam Chitta Ranjan Dutta passes away |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/obituary/2020/08/25/bir-uttam-chitta-ranjan-dutta-passes-away |work=Dhaka Tribune |access-date=25 August 2022}}</ref> also known as '''C R Dutta''', was a Bangladeshi [[war hero]] who served as [[Major-General]] of the [[Bangladesh Army]]. He was a key sector commander of the [[Mukti Bahini]] during the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]]. After independence, he served as the armed forces commander in [[Rangpur Division|Rangpur]] and later went on to become the first Director-General of the [[Bangladesh Rifles]] (present-day [[Border Guards Bangladesh]]) in 1973.

Dutta was a prominent minority rights advocate in Bangladesh. He was also the president of the [[Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council]].

== Early life ==
Dutta was born on 1 January 1929 to Upendra Chandra Dutta and Labanyaprabha Dutta.<ref name="kk11122012">{{cite news |date=11 December 2012 |author=Rina Akter Tuli |script-title=bn:মেজর জেনারেল চিত্তরঞ্জন দত্ত (সি আর দত্ত) |trans-title=Major General Chitta Ranjan Dutta (CR Dutta) |url=http://www.kalerkantho.com/index.php?view=details&type=gold&data=Loan&pub_no=1088&cat_id=1&menu_id=37&news_type_id=1&index=5&archiev=yes&arch_date=11-12-2012#.UOlmpKMr4kU |newspaper=Kaler Kantho |language=bn |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> The ancestral village of Dutta of Mirashi was in erstwhile Sylhet district, presently in [[Chunarughat Upazila]] of [[Habiganj District]] in [[Sylhet Division]] of Bangladesh. His father was a police officer posted in [[Shillong]], the then capital of [[Assam]] in [[British India]] and so he was born in Shillong. He started his schooling in Laban Government High School in Shillong, but moved to Habiganj after second grade. In 1944, he appeared for Entrance from Habiganj Government High School. Later he took admission at [[Asutosh College]] of the [[University of Calcutta]] in science. However, he left Asutosh College and completed his B.Sc. from Daulatpur College in [[Khulna]].<ref name="kk11122012"/>

== Army career ==
In 1950, after completing his graduation, Dutta joined the [[Pakistan Military Academy]], [[Kakul]]. He was commissioned in 1952 as a second lieutenant in a [[Punjab Irregular Force|Piffer]] unit with a majority of Pathan jawans. After completing his YO Course from Quetta Staff College, he was posted in Hyderabad, Sindh. He was one of the few Hindu officers in the 1950s in the Pakistan Army. There were only a handful of other Hindu officers in the Pakistan Army:, one M.N. Chakraborty of the Baloch Regiment who resigned as a Captain in 1950 and transferred to India, one G.C. Bose of 1 East Bengal Regiment who retired as a Major in 1957, and an M.N. Saha of [[26th Jacob's Mountain Battery]] who retired as a Lt. Col of the EPR in 1962. During the 1950s & 1960s, he commanded a Rifles Platoon, served as Adjutant of a Rifle Company (1954–57), Adjutant of an Infantry Battalion (1958-1960) and commanded an Infantry Company as Major (1962-1964),.For a time he was the [[Brigade Major]] in a [[Frontier Corps]] Brigade based in Peshawar and then the Principal of the East Pakistan Rifles Training Depot (1962–64). During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War, then Major Dutta served as a Wing Commander in the [[East Pakistan Rifles]]. Between 1968 and 1970, he was Adjutant of the [[Gilgit Scouts]] in [[Skardu]]. In 1970, Major Dutta was serving in the Quartermaster Branch of the 12th Infantry Division at Quetta.<ref name="bss23032012">{{cite news |date=23 March 2012 |title=1971 veterans started preparing for war from 7th March |url=http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=236676&date=2012-03-23 |newspaper=Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha |access-date=6 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305024318/http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=236676&date=2012-03-23 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In January 1971, he had taken a three-month leave and was staying at his [[Habiganj]] residence.<ref name="si15122012">{{cite news |last=Siddiquee |first=Iqbal |date=15 December 2012 |title=Liberating Habiganj |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/starinsight/2012/12/01/feature.htm |newspaper=Star Insight |publisher=The Daily Star |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> After Mujibur Rahman's 7 March speech, Dutta mentally prepared himself for a possible war. However, as the Pakistani occupation army launched the Operation Searchlight, Dutta wasn't initially aware of the widespread repression and torture. At that time he attended a meeting of the political leaders at the house of his neighbour Colonel Abdur Rab.<ref name="bss23032012"/> Following the meeting, Dutta decided to fight for the independence of Bangladesh. During the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]], Dutta became the sector commander of Sector 4, which covered the whole of the present Sylhet Division and some of adjoining areas.<ref name="si15122012"/> After the war, in 1972, Dutta was appointed as brigade commander in [[Rangpur, Bangladesh|Rangpur]].<ref name="kk11122012"/> In 1973, formed the Bangladesh Rifles. He became the first Director General of Bangladesh Rifles. In late 1973 he ordered BDR to attack holdouts of [[Chakma people|Chakma]] separatists who had collaborated with the Pakistan Army and ordered expulsion of civilians and burning of huts in the [[Chittagong Hill Tracts]]. He later on regretted this decision<ref name="kk11122012"/>

== Rights advocacy ==
The liberation war of Bangladesh was fought on the principles of Bengali nationalism. The 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh included the principles of the democracy, secularism, socialism and Bengali nationalism at the four pillars of the nation. After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, successive military regimes gradually removed the founding principles by Islamic principles. On 9 June 1988, Islam was declared as the state religion of Bangladesh. Major General (Retd.) Chitta Ranjan Dutta along with minority leaders from other communities founded the [[Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council]].

Since the foundation, Dutta served as the President of the organization in uninterrupted manner. As the president Dutta fought tirelessly for the rights of the minorities. Dutta campaigned for the return of the properties confiscated using the Vested Property Act to their rightful owners.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 April 2001 |title=CR Dutta thanks PM for passage of Vested Property Return Bill |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-45988124.html |newspaper=The Independent |location=Bangladesh |access-date=6 January 2013 |via=HighBeam Research |url-access=subscription }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Dutta was also vocal on removal of Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh and supported the restoration of 1972 [[Constitution of Bangladesh]].<ref>{{cite news |title=CR Dutta asks for deleting Islam as state religion |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2007/08/31/cr-dutta-asks-for-deleting-islam-as-state-religion |newspaper=bdnews24.com |date=31 August 2007 |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Liberation of Bangladesh}}

{{Authority control}}{{Bir Uttom}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Chitta Ranjan}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Asutosh College alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Generals of the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:Bangladesh Army generals]]
[[Category:Mukti Bahini personnel]]
[[Category:Director Generals of Border Guards Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Bir Uttom]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi Hindus]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi secularists]]
[[Category:People from Shillong]]
[[Category:People associated with Shillong]]

Chitta Ranjan Dutta - Revision history

2607:FEA8:C3A0:2C0:5194:8F79:F206:8224 at 03:21, 26 October 2022