In a setback to Hindu monk, a Chattogram court has rejected the bail plea of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a former leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), The Daily Star reported on Thursday.
Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam announced the decision following a 30-minute hearing where arguments were presented by both sides. Earlier in the day, a group of 11 Supreme Court lawyers arrived at the court to represent Chinmoy. However, despite their efforts, the court ruled against granting bail to the former ISKCON leader.
On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh met Bangladeshi lawyer Rabindra Ghosh, who is defending Chinmoy Krishna Das, at his current residence in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district. The lawyer has been staying in Barrackpore for medical treatment.
Ghosh, the TMC’s former Rajya Sabha MP, promised the lawyer from the neighbouring country that his request to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would be communicated at the appropriate level.
Rabindra Ghosh, accompanied by his wife, arrived in India in the second week of December and is currently staying with his son Rahul Ghosh in Barrackpore.
Kunal Ghosh met the 88-year-old lawyer and told him that his request for an audience with the TMC supremo would be conveyed.
The TMC leader told reporters that Rabindra Ghosh understood that the ruling party in West Bengal and the state regime cannot act on Bangladesh’s situation where minorities, particularly Hindus, have been attacked, and the state would go by the way the Centre formulates its response.
In a dig at state opposition BJP, the TMC leader said, “They must prevail upon their government at the Centre to use its offices for an end to the atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh.” “The release of Chinmoy Krishna Das depends on technical and legal issues. I cannot comment on this. Have the BJP leaders here taken up with the central leadership about Das’ release?” Kunal Ghosh asked.
Rabindra Ghosh told reporters that he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take up with the interim government in Bangladesh the atrocities and persecution of minority leaders there.
“The interim government in Bangladesh has no right to reject any policy decision taken by the previous democratically elected government,” the Bangladeshi lawyer said.
Chinmoy Krishna Das, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, was arrested on November 25 at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while travelling to Chattogram for a rally.