Bangladesh communal tensions: Lawyer defending detained Hindu monk ‘brutally attacked’

A spokesperson for the Hindu spiritual organisation International Society for Krishna Consciousness, known as ISKCON, said Monday (Dec 2) that a lawyer of detained Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu was brutally attacked in Bangladesh. ISKCON Kolkata’s Radharamn Das said that advocate Ramen Roy, who is helping Chinmoy fight legal cases, was attacked by some people at his home and was now in critical condition.

Radharamn Das also posted a picture of Ramen Roy, showing him lying in the ICU and “fighting for his life.”

“Please pray for Advocate Ramen Roy. His only 'fault' was defending Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu in court. Islamists ransacked his home and brutally attacked him,” wrote the ISKCON Kolkata spokesperson on X.

Chinmoy was detained by Bangladesh police on November 25 on stringent sedition charges, backed by claims that he disrespected the Bangladeshi flag while demanding safety for Hindus. An FIR was also filed against him and 18 others. He was denied a bail on November 26 and sent to prison. The court is now set to hear the case on January 2 next year. 

Indian political leaders have been raising concerns over the arrest of the Hindu monk and rising attacks on the Hindu community in the country.

Also read: Bangladesh freezes 17 bank accounts linked to ISKCON amid rising attacks on Hindus

Over the weekend, ISKCON claimed Bangladesh detained two more Hindu monks who had gone to meet Chinmoy in jail.

While ISKCON earlier said Chinmoy was not its representative in Bangladesh, the group later said in a statement it “supports his rights and freedom for peacefully calling for protecting Hindus and their places of worship”.

On November 30, Bangladesh authorities ordered freezing of at least 17 bank accounts related to the ISKCON, including one belonging to Chinmoy. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) also ordered banks to provide information, including updated transaction statements of all the accounts, within the next three working days.

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India has taken note of these developments and has told Dhaka to protect its minorities, including Hindus.

"Government has taken a serious note of these incidents and shared its concerns with the Government of Bangladesh," Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament.

(With inputs from agencies)