“Today, I must unfold my true self. I owe a lot to an organisation… I am there from my childhood till I attained youth… throughout my youth. I have learnt to be courageous, upright… (have) equal view for others, and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the work, wherever you work… To the distaste of some persons, I must admit here that I was, and I am, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” Justice Dash said at his farewell function in court.

“I had distanced myself from the organisation till about 37 years because of the work I undertook. I have never used my membership to the organisation for any advancement of my career, because that is against the principle of the organisation.

I have treated everybody at par, be he rich, be he poor, be he a Communist, be he a BJP person, be he Congress, be he TMC. All are equal before me, and from my conduct you must have seen, I do not have any bias for anybody, or any bias for any particular political philosophy or particular political mechanism. All are equal before me, and I try to dispense justice on two principles. One is empathy, second is the law can be bent to do justice, but justice cannot be bent to suit the law,” he said.

“These two principles, I always applied in my life, and I might have done wrong, I might have done right, but, I am ready now to go back to the organisation if they call me for any assistance, or for any work they need (that) I am capable of doing. Because I have not done anything wrong in my life, I had the courage to say that I belong to the organisation, because that is also not wrong. If I am a good person, I cannot belong to a bad organisation,” he said.

In his speech, Justice Dash also reflected on the Calcutta High Court’s history. “This court is the first chartered High Court of the nation. In fact, even Supreme Court took birth here about two hundred years back… but a matter of disappointment today is that the Calcutta High Court has lost its leadership in pan-India scenario,” he said.

Born in 1962 in Odisha’s Sonepur, Justice Dash did his schooling in Ullunda and completed his higher studies in Dhenkanal and Bhubaneswar, following which he graduated in law from Cuttack in 1985. He enrolled as an advocate in 1986 and was appointed as an additional standing counsel of the state government in 1992, which he continued till 1994, according to the Calcutta HC’s website.

He joined the Orissa Superior Judicial Service (Senior Branch) in February 1999 as a direct recruit. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Orissa HC in October 2009, and was transferred as Calcutta HC Judge in June 2022.