Protests in Bangladesh as court denies bail to Hindu monk rallying for minority rights

A tribunal successful Bangladesh has denied bail to a salient monk who had been starring rallies demanding information for the number Hindu community successful the South Asian country.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, the person of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) successful Bangladesh, besides popularly known arsenic the Hare Krishna movement, was detained connected sedition complaint connected Tuesday aft the magistrate tribunal of Kazi Shariful Islam denied him bail.

Protests broke retired successful superior Dhaka with hundreds of his supporters surrounding the van carrying him, forcing it to halt for implicit an hr earlier information officials fired teargas to disperse the crowd.

The protestation turned spiritual aft dozens of Muslims joined the information officials successful chasing Hindu protesters and threw stones astatine them, TV unrecorded footage showed.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police commissioner, Hasib Aziz, said the protesters “went connected a rampage, throwing bricks” astatine the police.

“To disperse the crowd, we had to occurrence teardrop gas. No 1 was earnestly injured, but 1 of our constables was hurt,” Mr Aziz told Reuters.

Mr Das, who is besides a person of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group, was accused of sedition on with 18 others for allegedly disrespecting Bangladesh's nationalist emblem by hoisting a saffron emblem supra it astatine a rally successful Chattogram metropolis successful October. He was arrested successful Dhaka's main airdrome connected Monday portion traveling to Chattogram.

Kushal Baran Chakrabarty, who was accompanying Mr Das astatine the clip of his arrest, said that respective detectives took the Hindu person to a constabulary car astatine the airport.

"Chinmoy Prabhu gave his telephone to maine arsenic helium was forcefully taken to the constabulary car. The constabulary detectives jostled with america to forcefully instrumentality his telephone and they took it away. We past followed the constabulary car that headed for the office of the Detective Branch astatine Minto Road successful Dhaka," helium said. "We stayed extracurricular the Detective Branch's office."

The Hindu monk had been advocating for the rights of the Hindus, who marque up astir 8 per cent of Bangladesh's population, successful the aftermath of the targeted unit that ensued successful the aftermath of the gyration successful August.

A student-led protestation turned into a wide uprising, forcing premier curate Sheikh Hasina to resign and fly to India connected 5 August, which led to a implicit illness of instrumentality and bid successful the country. The federation is present tally by an interim authorities headed by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, who downplayed the attacks connected Hindus arsenic "exaggerated propaganda".

Fear of prosecution prompted scores of Hindus to fly the state portion others person been staging protests for information of their homes, businesses and places of worship. According to the Associated Press, much than 2,000 instances of onslaught connected the number assemblage since Ms Hasina's ouster.

Many successful the interim authorities spot the rallies by Hindus arsenic a menace to stableness and a ploy to rehabilitate Ms Hasina and her Awami League party.

Iskcon issued a connection connected Tuesday calling the allegations of its relation with coercion "outrageous" and "baseless". The radical called connected the Indian authorities to "take contiguous steps and talk to the Government of Bangladesh and convey that we are a peace-loving Bhakti movement".

"We privation the authorities of Bangladesh to merchandise Chinmoy Krishna Das immediately," it said.

The Indian overseas ministry said it "noted with heavy interest the apprehension and denial of bail" to Mr Das, pursuing what it alleged were "multiple attacks connected Hindus and different minorities by extremist elements successful Bangladesh".

"There are respective documented cases of arson and looting of minorities' homes and concern establishments, arsenic good arsenic theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples.”

The ministry said it was "unfortunate" that portion the "perpetrators of these incidents stay astatine large, charges should beryllium pressed against a spiritual person presenting morganatic demands done peaceful gatherings".

"We besides enactment with interest the attacks connected minorities protesting peacefully against the apprehension of Shri Das,” the ministry said.