The Dharma Sabha was formed in 1830 in Calcutta by Radhakanta Deb to counter the ongoing social reform movements led by protagonists such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Henry Derozio. The organization was established to repel a new law enacted by British colonial rule, which banned the barbaric practice of burning widows alive (sati) in the country. The Dharma Sabha filed an appeal in the Privy Council against the ban on Sati by Lord William Bentinck, but their request was rejected, and the ban on Sati was upheld in 1832. It published a newspaper called Samachar Chandrika.