Early life and education

He was born in Calcutta and studied in Hare School

Hare School

Hare School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades 1 to 12 under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The boys-only school was established by the Scottish watch-maker David Hare with the help of social...

 and Presidency College, Calcutta before proceeding with his childhood friends R.C. Dutt and Surendranath Banerjee to England for higher studies. In England he joined University College, London and eventually passed the Open Competitive Service Examinations to become the third Indian to join the Indian Civil Service in 1869 coming out to India in 1871. He belonged to the famous batch of 1869 which produced four Indians in the Indian Civil Service, including R.C. Dutt, himself, Surendranath Banerjee and Sripad Babaji Thakur. He was also called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1871. He held Degrees of Honour in Sanskrit and Persian and was awarded Durbar Medals in 1903 and 1912.

He was a member of the Brahmo Sammilan Samaj in Bhowanipore, Calcutta.

Career

His career in the civil service was distinguished: he became the first Indian Chief Presidency Magistrate and Coroner of Calcutta in 1872, an appointment that sparked off a serious debate on the legitimacy of an Indian civilian being appointed to such a senior position in the British Indian administration, leading to the Ilbert Bill

Ilbert Bill

The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was...

 controversy of 1883.

Gupta was also a District and Sessions Judge, Remembrancer and Superintendent of Legal Affairs, Bengal, Member, Bengal Legislative Council, and finally a Judge (offtg.) of the High Court of Calcutta from where he retired in 1907.

Post Retirement

After retirement he was appointed as Law and Justice Member in Baroda in 1909 and Dewan

Dewan

The originally Persian title of dewan has, at various points in Islamic history, designated various differing though similar functions.-Etymology:...

 in 1912. In 1914 he travelled with His Highness, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda to Europe.