New Delhi: The Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) on Monday condemned the arrest of Bangladeshi International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari from the Dhaka International Airport as an act to suppress and silence the religious minorities in the country. He was prevented from travelling abroad, taken to a police station and arrested.
On October 30, a sedition case was filed at Kotwali Police Station, Chittagong against 19 Hindus including two from the ISKCON for allegedly hoisting a saffron flag over Bangladesh’s national flag at Chittagong's New Market intersection on October 25.
The 19 accused are Chandan Kumar Dhar alias Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari (38), Iskcon’s Chittagong divisional organising secretary, Ajay Dutta (34) coordinator of Hindu Jagran Manch’s Chittagong's, Leela Raj Das Brahmachari (48) principal of the Prabartak ISKCON temple in the city, Gopal Das Tipu (38), Dr Kathak Das (40), Amit Dhar (38), Roni Das (38), Rajib Das (32), Krishna Kumar Dutta (52), Jiku Chowdhury (40), Newton Dey (38), Tushar Chakraborty Rajib (28), Mithun Dey (35), Rupan Dhar (35), Rimon Dutta (28), Sukanta Das (28), Biswajit Gupta (42), Rajesh Chowdhury (28), and Hriday Das (25). Further, about 15-20 unidentified individuals were included as accused in the case.
"The sedition case was filed to ensure that the Hindu minorities cannot organise and exercise their right to freedom of association and assembly to highlight human rights violations. This is the same tactic followed by Dr Muhammad Yunus' regime in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) where four hill tribes were killed, over 70 were injured and hundreds of houses and business establishments were burnt on September 19 & 20 after the tribal students organised the biggest protests on September 18 at Khagrachari Sadar in the CHTs," Suhas Chakma, director of the RRAG, said.
"Dr Yunus is turning out to be a dictator invoking sedition to silence critics too. On October 9, a case of sedition and defamation was filed against Tapashee Tabassum Urmi, the suspended assistant commissioner of Lalmonirhat in Khulna after she allegedly made negative comments against Dr Yunus," added Chakma.
The RRAG called for the immediate release of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.
Over 2,000 cases of alleged attacks on religious minorities were reported since August 5, 2024, after the fall of Sheikh Hasina. These violations were described by Dr Yunus as attacks for being supporters of the Awami League, without any proper investigation. This policy of Dr Yunus has further made religious minorities vulnerable.
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