New Delhi: The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) on Saturday urged the United Nations and the diplomatic community to intervene for the release of Hindu priest Chinmoy Das from prison in Bangladesh, coinciding with the celebration of Janmashtami, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna.
RRAG Director Suhas Chakma criticised the participation of Bangladesh’s top military leaders—Army Chief General Waqar Uz Zaman, Navy Chief Admiral Mohd Nazmul Hussain, and Air Force Chief Air Marshal Hasan Mahmud Khan—at a Janmashtami function in Dhaka, calling it a “sham” aimed at misleading the international community amid “relentless atrocities against Hindus.”
Chakma claimed that during the one-year tenure of Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, there have been 2,485 incidents of violence against religious and ethnic minorities.
“If the Bangladesh government is serious, the interim administration should at least release Chinmoy Das on bail today,” Chakma said.
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Chinmoy Das, an ISKCON priest, has been in custody since November 25, 2024. Initially arrested on sedition charges for allegedly placing an ISKCON flag over the national flag of Bangladesh, he was later implicated in the murder of a lawyer inside a court complex, despite being in police custody at the time.
“If there was any conspiracy to kill the lawyer, it happened under the watch of security forces who had custody of him. Yet none of the security personnel have been charged,” Chakma alleged.
According to RRAG, the prosecution’s continued opposition to granting bail is meant to send “a clear message to Hindus not to organise political meetings and restrict themselves to religious programmes like Janmashtami celebrations.”
