India swears in first 'untouchable' chief justice
Afp, New Delhi
India yesterday swore in its first Supreme Court chief justice from the oppressed group at the bottom of India's caste hierarchy once known as "untouchables". President Abdul Kalam administered the oath to Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan, 61, at a simple ceremony in New Delhi. "He is getting a good position, he has achieved this. I am very happy," Balakrishnan's octogenarian mother KM Sharda told India's NDTV television network after attending the ceremony. Balakrishnan, the country's 37th chief justice, will serve until May 2010. He has already served as a senior judge on the Supreme Court since 2000. The new chief justice was born in a village in the southern state of Kerala, and comes from a humble background. A handful of Dalits, the name adopted by the group, have made it to the country's top posts in recent years, including former president KR Narayanan, who died in 2005.
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