Protests in Bangladesh as court denies bail to Hindu monk rallying for minority rights
Clashes break out in country over arrest of prominant Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das
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Your support makes all the difference.A court in Bangladesh has denied bail to a prominent monk who had been leading rallies demanding security for the minority Hindu community in the South Asian country.
Chinmoy Krishna Das, the leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in Bangladesh, also popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement, was detained on sedition charge on Tuesday after the magistrate court of Kazi Shariful Islam denied him bail.
Protests broke out in capital Dhaka with hundreds of his supporters surrounding the van carrying him, forcing it to stop for over an hour before security officials fired teargas to disperse the crowd.
The protest turned religious after dozens of Muslims joined the security officials in chasing Hindu protesters and threw stones at them, TV live footage showed.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police commissioner, Hasib Aziz, said the protesters “went on a rampage, throwing bricks” at the police.
“To disperse the crowd, we had to fire tear gas. No one was seriously injured, but one of our constables was hurt,” Mr Aziz told Reuters.
Mr Das, who is also a leader of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group, was accused of sedition along with 18 others for allegedly disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag by hoisting a saffron flag above it at a rally in Chattogram city in October. He was arrested in Dhaka's main airport on Monday while traveling to Chattogram.
Kushal Baran Chakrabarty, who was accompanying Mr Das at the time of his arrest, said that several detectives took the Hindu leader to a police car at the airport.
"Chinmoy Prabhu gave his phone to me as he was forcefully taken to the police car. The police detectives jostled with us to forcefully take his phone and they took it away. We then followed the police car that headed for the headquarters of the Detective Branch at Minto Road in Dhaka," he said. "We stayed outside the Detective Branch's office."
The Hindu monk had been advocating for the rights of the Hindus, who make up roughly 8 per cent of Bangladesh's population, in the wake of the targeted violence that ensued in the wake of the revolution in August.
A student-led protest turned into a mass uprising, forcing prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India on 5 August, which led to a complete collapse of law and order in the country. The nation is now run by an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, who downplayed the attacks on Hindus as "exaggerated propaganda".
Fear of prosecution prompted scores of Hindus to flee the country while others have been staging protests for safety of their homes, businesses and places of worship. According to the Associated Press, more than 2,000 instances of attack on the minority community since Ms Hasina's ouster.
Many in the interim government see the rallies by Hindus as a threat to stability and a ploy to rehabilitate Ms Hasina and her Awami League party.
Iskcon issued a statement on Tuesday calling the allegations of its association with terrorism "outrageous" and "baseless". The group called on the Indian government to "take immediate steps and speak to the Government of Bangladesh and convey that we are a peace-loving Bhakti movement".
"We want the government of Bangladesh to release Chinmoy Krishna Das immediately," it said.
The Indian foreign ministry said it "noted with deep concern the arrest and denial of bail" to Mr Das, following what it alleged were "multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh".
"There are several documented cases of arson and looting of minorities' homes and business establishments, as well as theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples.”
The ministry said it was "unfortunate" that while the "perpetrators of these incidents remain at large, charges should be pressed against a religious leader presenting legitimate demands through peaceful gatherings".
"We also note with concern the attacks on minorities protesting peacefully against the arrest of Shri Das,” the ministry said.
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