History

Santal Pargana district was carved out of Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts in 1856, after the Great Santal Hul of 1855. Mr. Ashley Eden was the first Deputy Commissioner of Santal Pargana, and civil and criminal jurisdiction was vested in the Deputy Commissioner, and Dumka was one of the Sub District of Santal Pargana. In 1872, the Santal Pargana was formed into a revenue non regulation district with a headquarter at Dumka, and three sub districts, Rajamahal, Godda, and Deoghar, were reduced to sub-divisions, The power of the session judge was taken away from the Deputy Commissioner and assigned to the Sessions Courts of Birbhum and Bhagalpur. Accordingly, the jurisdiction of the sessions court of Santal Pargana was vested with the sessions courts at Bhagalpur, which used to hold circuit courts at Dumka. In 1943, the post of Damin Magistrate-Cum-Superintendent was created in Kathikund in Dumka Sub Division, and later on, these magistrates were designated as Resident Magistrates, who had the power to take cognizance of complaint cases and used to hold trials in all the civil and criminal cases in all the Damin areas. In accordance with the recommendation of the Santal Pargana inquiry committee, two regular Sub Ordinate Judges were posted 1st at Dumka and 2nd at Deoghar in 1944. They were also subsequently vested with criminal powers. Under the regulation, the Dumka Judgeship was created, and Sri Ram Anugrah Narayan became the first District and Sessions Judge on April 16, 1947. The criminal justice system in the district of Santal Pargana was brought completely to par with other places in the State on May 1, 1951. Santal Pergana district was designated as Santal Pergana division, and Dumka became one of the districts of the division with headquarters at Dumka. The family court at Dumka was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. V. D. Narayan, Judge, Jharkhand High Court, on August 20, 2003. Presently, it is the sub-capital of Jharkhand State and the commissionary headquarters of the Santal Pergana division, which has six districts, including Dumka district.