No Lawyer For Hindu Priest Chinmoy Krishna Das In Bangladesh, Next Bail Hearing After A Month

The bail hearing of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the Hindu priest arrested and accused of sedition in Bangladesh, has been pushed to next month after no lawyer appeared in court for the hearing on Tuesday. Earlier, ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) claimed that a Bangladeshi lawyer defending the Hindu monk was “brutally attacked at his home by Islamists” and is in the Intensive Care Unit.

On Tuesday, lawyers denied appearing for him during the bail hearing, following which the Chattogram court adjourned the proceedings. The court fixed the next date of hearing on January 2, 2025.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote has alleged that approximately 70 Hindu lawyers were “falsely sued in a case to prevent their participation” in a bail hearing for their spokesperson Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, according to a report by Bangladeshi daily The Business Standard.

As per the report, the minority coalition, with which the arrested Hindu monk was associated, in a statement on Sunday night claimed that the lawyers were being sued in a case filed under the Explosives Act with Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram, to “sabotage their ability to advocate for Chinmoy Das”.

The coalition reportedly also accused “members of a political group” of assaulting lawyers defending the Hindu monk.

On Monday, Radharaman Das, the spokesperson for ISKCON Kolkata, said in a post on X, “Please pray for Advocate Ramen Roy. His only ‘fault’ was defending Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu in court. Islamists ransacked his home and brutally attacked him, leaving him in the ICU, fighting for his life”.

https://twitter.com/RadharamnDas/status/1863593503609303469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Many lawyers in Bangladesh, however, have denied any such event.

Last month too, there were claims on social media and a few news outlets that a lawyer defending Chinmoy Krishna Das was killed. But investigations revealed that the murdered lawyer, Saiful Islam, was an assistant public prosecutor and he was not defending Chinmoy Das.

Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a prominent former ISKCON leader, is currently serving as a spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote. He was arrested in Dhaka last month after protests by the Hindu community in Rangpur, demanding stronger legal protections for minority groups. The monk has been accused of sedition.

Following the rejection of his bail plea on November 26, clashes erupted between protestors and police outside Chattogram court premises, resulting in the killing of Advocate Saiful Islam Alif.

Four days later, the murdered lawyer’s brother reportedly filed a case under the Explosives Act in Chattogram, naming 116 individuals as accused. His father also filed a murder case involving 31 suspects, the Bangladeshi daily report said.