Bangladesh Court's Rejection of ISKCON Priest's Bail is an Effort to Suppress Minority Voices: Advocacy Group

New Delhi/Agartala, Jan 2 (NationPress) A rights organization from New Delhi, Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), has vehemently condemned the Bangladeshi court's refusal to grant bail to Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.

RRAG has resolved to raise this matter with the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, and other nations that uphold the rule of law.

Das was apprehended on November 25 at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on charges of sedition and has been incarcerated despite widespread calls for his release.

The RRAG stated that the court's refusal to grant bail to Das, who is a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilit Sanatan Jagran Jote, by Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam after a brief hearing of approximately 30 minutes, is merely an attempt to suppress the voices of Hindu minorities who seek to advocate for their democratic rights.

RRAG Director Suhas Chakma asserted that Das's primary offense was organizing a peaceful demonstration for Hindu minorities on October 25, 2024, at the historic Lal Dighi ground in Chittagong to demand justice against the violations of minority rights in Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh cannot tolerate the fact that Hindu minorities are asserting their rights. There is no other justification for arresting and detaining him in this absurd sedition case,” he remarked in a statement.

As per RRAG, on October 31, 2024, a complaint was lodged by Md Firoz Khan, the former General Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, at the Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram. The complaint accused Das and 18 others of showing disrespect towards Bangladesh's national flag during a Hindu community rally on October 25.

“An examination of the two-page complaint reveals that the entire first page describes the accused. The second page, which contains half a page of text, alleges that ‘under the instigation of the accused, at New Market Zero Point, Chattogram, unidentified individuals installed saffron flags of ISKCON over national flags displayed by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement,” the statement indicated.

“The complaint claimed that raising the saffron flag constitutes a challenge to the territorial integrity of Bangladesh and incites discord among different communities,” it continued.

RRAG further claimed that Md Firoz Khan offered no evidence to back his allegations.

It added that “based on this fabricated and unsubstantiated complaint, the Bangladesh Police initiated a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 124 (a) of the Bangladesh Penal Code regarding sedition, which is punishable by life imprisonment, along with Section 150 related to unlawful assembly, Section 109 concerning abetment, and Section 34 concerning common intention.”

Suhas Chakma noted that the complaint filed by Firoz Khan did not specify that Das and others were directly involved in the alleged act of placing the ISKCON flag over the national flag of Bangladesh.

“The actual offenders were not identified. Most importantly, there is no evidence that those who allegedly placed the flags were ISKCON supporters and not individuals from other groups. Even if multiple flags are on a pole, it is natural for them to shift due to wind, which cannot be construed as an act of sedition,” Chakma explained.

He emphasized that this situation warrants decisive intervention from all nations that value the rule of law, and they will reach out to such countries.