Bangladesh: Minority representation missing in new judicial appointments

Dhaka, Aug 28 (IANS) Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) on Thursday expressed disappointment over the absence of representation of minority communities among the newly-appointed judges in the country.

It stated that 25 judges were appointed as Additional Judges of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court in Bangladesh. Among them, nine are judicial officers, nine are lawyers, and seven are law officers.

"The complete absence of individuals from religious and ethnic minority communities in these appointments is extremely regrettable. It is particularly concerning because, although minorities constitute about 10 per cent of the country's population, not a single person from these communities is included among the 25 newly appointed judges," read a statement issued by the BHBCUC.

On behalf of the Council, President Nim Chandra Bhowmik, Executive President Ushatan Talukder, Senior Vice-President Nirmal Rozario, and Acting General Secretary Monindra Kumar Nath have expressed grave concern and outrage over the matter.

Local media reported that Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, in consultation with the Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, made the new appointments, raising the number of HC judges to 113, late Monday night.

On Tuesday, the Chief Justice administered the oath to the 25 newly-appointed judges.

Among the appointees, Deputy Attorney General Lutfur Rahman, the father-in-law of the National Citizen Party's Chief Coordinator (North) Sarjis Alam, has been appointed as an additional judge of the High Court. A Supreme Court lawyer, Rahman, was earlier elevated to Deputy Attorney General after last year’s July demonstrations, Bangladesh's leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported.

Last month, the Bangladesh's Awami League party strongly condemned the “weaponization” of the judiciary and the ongoing "state-sponsored persecution" under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in the country.

“Judges are now dictated by Yunus-backed mobs inside the court. To deny legal rights of arbitrarily detained victims, the regime sponsored attacks on lawyers who seek to provide legal services, eroding fairness and transparency from the judiciary. These series of state-sponsored repression and impunity for the attackers clearly testified that the judiciary has fallen to mob rule,” the party stated.

Since the ouster of the democratically-elected government of Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, several judges and lawyers who served during her tenure were arrested on fabricated grounds. Experts reckon these latest appointments as a political ploy to serve the agenda of the Muhammad Yunus–led interim government

--IANS

scor/as