Dhaka: A Bangladesh court denied bail to former ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari on charges of sedition, media reports said on Thursday.
Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saiful Islam issued a bail order on Thursday, based on a December-filed bail petition by his lawyers.
“The hearing was held,” said Md Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury, assistant public prosecutor at the court. “The court denied the bail petition after the hearing concluded.”
Chinmoy was not brought to court for the hearing. He appeared virtually at the hearing, bdnews24.com reported.
“At the hearing, the state objected to the bail, saying that it was a sedition case and the highest punishment was life in prison,” said Nazim Uddin Chowdhury, president of the Chattogram District Bar Association. “If anyone is aggrieved, they can take the matter to the High Court.”
“The court has denied the bail petition,” said Chinmoy’s lawyer Apurbo Bhattacharya. “We will take the matter to a higher court,” the report said.
Chinmoy, the head of the ISKCON-run Pundarik Dham Temple in Chattogram, has been advocating against attacks on minorities nationwide since August 5, requesting eight specific demands.
According to reports, a sedition case was filed against Chinmoy and 18 others at Kotwali Police Station on October 30, following a public rally at Chattogram’s Laldighi Maidan on October 25. He was arrested at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport on November 25.
The news of his arrest sparked protests across several districts, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Cumilla, Khulna, Dinajpur, and Cox’s Bazar, which continued late into the night of November 25.
Chinmoy was transported from Dhaka to Chattogram that evening. On Nov 26, Chattogram’s 6th Metropolitan Magistrate Kazi Shariful Islam rejected Chinmoy’s bail application in the sedition case and sent him to jail, the report said.
The decision angered Hindu community members who staged a protest around the prison van for Chinmoy outside the court.
Chinmoy’s lawyers filed a revision petition and sought another hearing after being denied bail, but no hearing occurred on the same day, the report said.
On December 3, another bail hearing was held, but when no lawyer stood to represent Chinmoy, the hearing was deferred to Jan 2.
According to media reports, ahead of the hearing, the Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jote alleged that cases were filed against 70 lawyers to prevent them from representing Chinmoy in court. They also claimed that some lawyers’ chambers had been attacked.
On December 12, a court ordered the registration of the bail plea for Chinmoy Das.
Source: UNI
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