Bangladesh court denies bail to Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das
Sedition charges have been filed against the monk for allegedly raising a saffron flag above Bangladesh's national flag in Chittagong on October 25;
A court in Chattogram in Bangladesh on Thursday (January 2) denied bail to Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was arrested on charges of organising protests against attacks on Hindus in the country.
Metropolitan sessions judge Md Saiful Islam rejected the bail plea after some 30 minutes of hearing arguments from both sides, The Daily Star newspaper reported.
Krishna Das, formerly from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was brought to the court amid tight security. Eleven Supreme Court lawyers represented Krishna Das.
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Sedition charges
On December 3, the Chittagong court had fixed January 2 for a bail hearing as the prosecution submitted a time petition and there was no lawyer to represent Krishna Das.
Sedition charges have been filed against the monk for allegedly raising a saffron flag above Bangladesh's national flag in Chittagong on October 25.
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Denial of bail condemned
In New Delhi, Suhas Chakma, director of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), described the denial of bail as “an attempt to silence the Hindu minorities to not press for their democratic rights”.
“There is no other reason to arrest and detail in a perverse case of sedition,” Chakma said in a statement.