Writer, social worker and civil servant Kishori Chand Mitra died on this day. He was the brother of Pyari Chand Mitra, who is credited with writing the first Bengali novel, Alalaer Gharer Dulal.
Kishori Chand was educated at Hindu College, Kolkata, and was a member of the Young Bengal group, the followers of the radical thinker Derozio.
In 1846, Kishori Chand was appointed a deputy magistrate, the highest office for an Indian civil servant under the British administration then. He was involved in various social activities as deputy magistrate of Rampur-Boalia, now Rajshahi in Bangladesh. He encouraged the local people to build bridges and roads and also to start institutions such as schools and dispensaries.
He was later posted as a police magistrate in Kolkata.
Despite his office, he constantly voiced his opinion about the hypocrisies of colonial rule, which did not endear him to the authorities. He was one of the most strident critics of the practice that kept Europeans outside the jurisdiction of Indian judges. He was also very critical of the exploitation of peasants under British rule. He lost his government job in 1858.
Kishori Chand established the weekly newspaper Indian Field (1859), which later merged with the Hindu Patriot in 1865. He contributed to several newspapers and journals and was part of progressive movements at that time. He was actively associated with organisations and institutions such as the Hindu Theosophical Society.