Bangladesh Court again rejects bail plea of priest Chinmoy Krishna Das

A Bangladesh court here has rejected the plea to change the bail hearing date of arrested Hindu priest, Chinmoy Krishna Das. The court dismissed the petition, stating that Chinmoy Krishna Das, the spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaron Jote, did not authourised power to the lawyer who submitted the plea on Wednesday.

Rabindra Ghosh, a Bangladesh Supreme Court senior lawyer and human rights activist, went to Chittagong and submitted the plea in the court for Chinmoy Krishna Das.

"I moved an application to Chittagong court to fix an early date for bail hearing of Chinmoy Krishna Das but at that time about 30 lawyers entered the courtroom without the permission of the court and tried to assault me," Ghosh told ANI over phone.

"They taunt me as ISKCON agent, Chinmoy's agent. They want to know why I came here. They say, a lawyer was killed. They call me a murderer. I came as an advocate. How am I a murderer !" he added.

"The judge scolded them. They could not attack me because of the police were there", Ghosh said. Ghosh argued that Chinmoy's lawyer could not attend the hearing as the murder case was filed in the lawyer's name. Ghosh applied on his behalf.

"After rejecting my plea, I went to the jail and collected the power from Chinmoy to move his case. The jail superintendent has confirmed on the copy of the power. I will apply to the court again on Thursday", Ghosh said.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, also a former priest of ISKCON, was arrested by police from Dhaka Airport on November 25 on charges of sedition. On November 26, a court in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong rejected his bail prayer and ordered him to be sent to prison. 

His followers laid in front of his prison van and blocked it. Police cleared after clashes with the protesters. A lawyer named Saiful Islam Alif was killed during the clashes. On December 3, Chittagong court had fixed January 2 for the bail hearing as there was no lawyer to represent Chinmoy. 

(This story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)