Dhaka — Bangladesh’s High Court on Sunday refused bail to Hindu monk Brahmachari Chinmoy Krishna Das, noting that he is currently being tried in a lower court in Chattogram in connection with the killing of a lawyer in 2024.
Das, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote and a former ISKCON leader, was arrested at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on November 25, 2024 on allegations of sedition. He was denied bail by a Chattogram court and jailed, prompting followers to stage protests in Dhaka and elsewhere the following day. A protest in Chattogram turned violent and junior government prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif was killed.
Das’s lawyer, Apurba Kumar Bhattacharya, told reporters the two-judge High Court bench of Justice KM Zahid Sarwar and Justice Sheikh Abu Taher rejected the bail petition because witness testimony is being recorded in the ongoing trial in Chattogram. The bench set Monday to hear bail petitions in four other cases against Das.
On January 19, the Chattogram Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal indicted Das and 38 others in the lawyer’s death and opened a trial. Prosecutors have said 39 people were accused in the killing; 23, including Das, are in custody to stand trial in person while 16 remain absconding.
Bhattacharya argued for bail on medical grounds, saying Das has been ill in custody. Earlier, on April 30 last year the High Court granted him bail in a separate sedition case alleging insult to the national flag, but the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division stayed that order.
Das’s Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote had organized multiple rallies in 2024 after the ouster of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, protesting alleged attacks and discrimination against Hindu communities. Hindus constitute roughly eight percent of Bangladesh’s about 170 million population, according to 2022 data.
Das’s arrest had also prompted concern from India, and the case briefly became a point of tension in Dhaka–New Delhi relations.
