Chowdhury was born on 23 June 1938 to an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family known as the Zamindars of Monakosha in Nawabganj, Malda district, Bengal Presidency.
His great-grandfather, Ismail Hossain Choudhry, was the zamindar of Kotalpukur in Bihar.
Chowdhury's mother, Syeda Roqeya Akhtar, belonged to the Syeds of Taraf that had relocated to Comilla.
His maternal aunt, Syeda Selena Akhtar, was the wife of politician Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry.
[3] Chowdhury was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 1990 and was elevated to the appellate division in 2000.