A New Delhi-based rights organization, the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), has strongly condemned the decision of a Bangladeshi court to deny bail to Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, labeling it as an attempt to suppress minority voices.
Das, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilit Sanatan Jagran Jote, was arrested on November 25 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on sedition charges. Despite significant domestic and international appeals for his release, he remains incarcerated.
RRAG Director Suhas Chakma asserted that Das’s principal “crime” was organizing a peaceful protest by Hindu minorities on October 25, 2024, at Lal Dighi ground in Chittagong, calling for justice against rights violations. Chakma criticized the Bangladeshi government, claiming it was unwilling to allow Hindu minorities to demand their rights.
The charges stem from a complaint filed on October 31, 2024, by Md Firoz Khan, a former General Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Mohora ward. The complaint alleged that unidentified individuals, supposedly under Das’s instigation, had hoisted saffron flags of ISKCON above Bangladeshi national flags during a rally. The complainant accused this act of challenging Bangladesh’s territorial integrity and fostering communal tensions.
According to RRAG, the complaint lacked substantive evidence, with most of its content describing the accused rather than detailing the alleged offense. Chakma highlighted that no direct involvement of Das or others named in the complaint was substantiated, and the actual individuals responsible for hoisting the flags were neither identified nor proven to be affiliated with ISKCON.
“The complaint is both false and fictitious, lacking evidence to sustain charges of sedition or other related offenses,” Chakma stated. He emphasized that even if multiple flags are flown on a pole and shift positions due to wind, it does not constitute sedition.
RRAG plans to escalate the matter to the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, and other nations that uphold the rule of law, seeking international intervention. The organization called for global advocacy to ensure justice for Das and safeguard the rights of minorities in Bangladesh.
