Denial of bail to Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das by Bangladesh court 'sad': ISKCON

Kolkata: ISKCON Kolkata on Thursday described as "sad" the denial of bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das, a Hindu spiritual leader of Bangladesh, by a court in the neighbouring country in a sedition case.

ISKCON Kolkata spokesperson Radharamn Das said that the only bright side of the hearing of the case was that the Hindu monk was represented in court by lawyers, which could not be done on earlier hearings of the matter before the Bangladesh court.

"It is sad that his bail prayer was refused. We were hoping that he would be freed in the new year," Radharamn Das said.

A court in Bangladesh on Thursday denied bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das, a former ISKCON leader, in a sedition case.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Kolkata spokesperson said that Chinmoy Krishna Das' lawyers must be contemplating an appeal before a higher court in Bangladesh.

He said that the monk's health was also reported to be bad.

"We hoped that on this ground and since he is in jail for the last 40 days, the court would grant bail to him," Das said.

He expressed hope that when the monk's appeal challenging the denial of bail by the Chittagong court would be taken up before a higher court, his lawyers would be provided with enough security inside and outside court by the interim government.

The ISKCON Kolkata spokesperson had on Wednesday said that the interim government in Bangladesh should take legal action if there is a repeat of threats by some advocates of beating up any lawyer who would appear for Chinmay Krishna Das in the court.

Chinmoy Krishna Das was not brought to court for Thursday's hearing and appeared virtually. He was arrested at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on November 25.

There have been a series of attacks on Hindu community members and their places of worship after the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus came to power after deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5 following a student-led protest.