Bangladeshi Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was arrested on November 25 on sedition charges and has been in prison since, will have to extend his stay as a court in the country rejected his bail hearing plea — submitted to change the hearing date.
The petition was dismissed as the court stated that Das, the spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaron Jote, did not authourise the lawyer, Rabindra Ghosh, who submitted the plea on Wednesday, December 11.
Ghosh, a senior lawyer and human rights activist, submitted the plea in the Chittagong court.
He told Indian news agency ANI that he moved an application to Chittagong court to fix an early date for bail hearing of Chinmoy Krishna Das, but was taunted as ISKCON agent by several lawyers, who he claimed tried to assault him.
“…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.
Ghosh said the judge scolded them and he was saved due to the presence of police.
He argued that Das’ appointed lawyer couldn’t attend the hearing as a murder case was filed in the lawyer’s name as well.
Ghosh said after his plea was rejected, he met Das and collected his permission to represent the priest and would file a plea again on Thursday, December 12.
Earlier, on December 3, the Chittagong court, citing no lawyer was willing to represent Das, had fixed January 2, 2025, for the bail hearing, which would effectively leave the Hindu priest in jail for the remainder of 2024.
