Krishna Das Prabhu faces sedition charges for leading rallies demanding better security for minority groups in Chattogram town.
A Bangladeshi court has again denied bail to an outspoken Hindu leader who advocates for the protection of minority groups in the country.
Krishna Das Prabhu failed to appear at the court hearing in the southeastern city of Chattogram, where Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saiful Islam rejected his bail plea, according to Public Prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan.
Security was tight at the hearing, with police and soldiers guarding the court. The violence had erupted after an earlier bail hearing in November, with Prabhu’s followers accused of murdering a Muslim public prosecutor.
Prabhu, 39, was arrested for disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally in Chattogram and faces sedition charges.
Hindu groups claim there have been hundreds of attacks on Hindus since August, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s nearly 16-year government was toppled.
“He faces serious charges of sedition and others involving the security and sovereignty of our country,” Bhuiyan told the Associated Press news agency by phone.
“We argued in court that if he gets bail, it could create anarchy, as we saw in the past when he caused violence in court premises by calling thousands of his supporters to protest. So we rejected his bail application as we believed he might abuse his bail.”
Prabhu is a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group. He is also associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.
Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee, a lawyer representing Prabhu, said they will appeal the verdict.
Radharamn Das, vice president and spokesman for ISKCON in Kolkata, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, told the India Today network that Prabhu’s health was deteriorating. He said the jailed Hindu leader “has become a face of minorities in Bangladesh”.
“Minorities see it as a ray of hope. He represents their voice,” said Das.
Meanwhile, the family of slain lawyer Saiful Islam Alif in November has filed two separate cases against those they say are connected to his death. This includes 58 Hindu lawyers accused of vandalism and possession of explosives.
Bangladesh saw religious tensions after a largely student-led revolution ousted the “autocratic” Hasina. India’s Hindu nationalist government backed Hasina, who has been in exile in India since protesters stormed her palace on August 5.
Bangladesh in December asked India to extradite Hasina to face charges of “massacres, murders and crimes against humanity”. India confirmed it had received the request but declined to comment further.
Hindu and other minority groups in Bangladesh and abroad have criticized the interim government led by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus for undermining their security after Hasina’s downfall.
Yunus and his supporters say reports of attacks on Hindus and other minority groups since August have been exaggerated.
