 Dubey was born on 18 March 1896 at Amgaon, a village in the Narsinghpur district in Madhya Pradesh, the second largest Indian state by area.After primary education at the village school in Kareli, he did his middle school studies at Narasinghpur and high school education at Akola.Joining Robertson College, Jabalpur in 1914, he graduated in 1918 and moved to Allahabad to graduate in Law with first class in 1920.