News that S K Sinha has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of Bangladesh has attracted some additional attention because of certain ascriptive dimensions of his identity. But how different segments of the media picked up on these is quite interesting. Most reports highlighted that Justice Sinha would be the first Hindu or non-Muslim Chief Justice in a Muslim-majority country, while a few also took note of his ethnicity (he is a Manipuri, i.e. member of one of the 45 odd ethnic minority groups of Bangladesh). Some reports did not mention either of these facts, and instead only focused on his career highlights, which are really what should matter most. However, what I found interesting is that among the news reports (including one by an Indian paper) and FB posts that I have come across, none of the ones in English mentioned his ethnicity! One wonders whether such oversights - which are mirrored by some provisions of our constitution - mean anything, or would be of any concern to the new Chief Justice himself.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 03:38:06 +0000
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