Chinmoy Krishna's bail rejected, sent to jail

A Chattogram court has rejected the bail plea of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote and principal of Pundarik Dham, who was arrested in a sedition case.

Magistrate Kazi Shariful Islam of the Chattogram Metropolitan Court issued the order following a hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

The case against Chinmoy Krishna was filed on charges of denigrating the national flag at the Independence Memorial Column near the New Market intersection in Chattogram city.

Mofizur Rahman, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) of Chattogram city police, confirmed to Prothom Alo that the court had rejected the bail plea.

He also stated that the court issued a division order following the defense lawyer's request.

Additionally, the court instructed the jail superintendent to ensure that Chinmoy Krishna’s medical needs and religious rituals are facilitated in accordance with prison rules.

Strict security measures were put in place for Chinmoy Krishna’s appearance in court. Devotees gathered at the court premises, raising slogans calling for his release.

Chinmoy Krishna was arrested on Monday afternoon at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport and was subsequently brought to Chattogram.

On 31 October, Firoz Khan, the general secretary of the Chandgaon Mohra ward BNP in the city, filed a sedition case against Chinmoy Krishna and 19 others at Kotwali police station. Firoz Khan was later dismissed from the BNP in connection with the case.

The other accused in the case are Ajay Dutt (34), Leela Raj Das Brahmachari (48), Gopal Das (38), Kathak Das (40), Engineer Amit Dhar (38), Roni Das (38), Rajib Das (32), Krishna Kumar Dutt (52), Jiku Chowdhury (40), Newton Dey (38), Tushar Chakraborty (28), Mithun Dey (35), Rupan Dhar (35), Rimon Dutt (28), Sukanta Das (28), Biswajit Gupta (42), Rajesh Chowdhury (28) and Hridoy Das (25).

In the case statement, the plaintiff alleged that following the mass uprising in Bangladesh on 5 August, students and the people advocating for anti-discrimination raised a national flag on a memorial column at Zero Point near the New Market intersection in the city, where it remained.

On 25 October, a grand rally was held at Laldighi ground under the banner of Bangladesh Sanatan Jagaran Mancha, with thousands of participants from various areas of Chattogram Division.

On that day, at the instigation of nine accused, including Chandan Kumar Dhar, the remaining accused allegedly hoisted a saffron-coloured religious flag of the ISKCON religious group on the Zero Point pillar, replacing the national flag. This act sparked widespread anger among the general public.

After the hearing, the defence lawyer Swarup Kanti Nath told Prothom Alo at the court premises that a bail plea was submitted, asserting the innocence of the accused. However, the court rejected the bail, and an appeal against this decision will be filed in the coming days.

Meanwhile, ISKCON Bangladesh has strongly condemned the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das.

The organisation issued a statement today, Tuesday, expressing its protest against the arrest.

In the statement, ISKCON also condemned "the attacks and acts of violence targeting Sanatani communities in various parts of the country".

ISKCON Bangladesh general secretary Charuchandra Das Brahmachari also voiced his protest against these incidents.