Dhaka: The government in Bangladesh lacks the political will to release prominent Bangladeshi Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, his legal team believes.
Das, a leading spokesperson for Bangladesh’s Sanatani (Hindu) community, was arrested at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on November 25, 2024, on sedition charges relating to allegations of disrespecting the national flag during a rally.
This fuelled widespread agitation across the country, culminating in violent clashes between security personnel and his supporters outside the Chattogram Court Building on November 27, 2024.
While the monk was granted bail in the original sedition charge and several subsequent cases, a web of fresh charges continues to keep the minority rights advocate behind bars.
In an interview to ANI, his defence attorney Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee detailed how the state mechanism has repeatedly stacked charges to prolong his incarceration.
“If the government truly wanted to, it could have made many things possible, but the case is being dragged out in a slow process,” Bhattacharjee said on Monday.
“A total of six cases have been filed against Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari. The first was a sedition case, filed on 24 October 2024. He was arrested on 25 November 2024. He was travelling as a passenger on a domestic flight from Rangpur to Chattogram via Dhaka after attending a public gathering. He was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka while in transit,” the lawyer said.
He highlighted a recurring pattern where new cases were introduced precisely when bail was secured in earlier ones: “In the sedition case, he was later granted bail by the High Court on 4 May 2025. However, just two days after he secured bail, five more cases were filed against him and he was shown arrested in those cases as well.”
“Among the five cases filed against him are the Alif murder case, a vandalism case, an explosives case, and a case for obstructing government work. We went to the High Court seeking bail in all five cases. The High Court had issued a Rule earlier, and after the Rule hearing, we were granted bail in two of the cases yesterday,” Bhattacharjee said.
“We will go to the High Court without delay to seek bail in that case,” the lawyer said after the local court recently rejected his bail application.
The High Court has deferred the bail hearing for these final two charges to August 16.
Das has long championed structured institutional reforms, advocating for a comprehensive Minority Protection Law, a fast-track tribunal for prosecuting cases of minority persecution and the establishment of a dedicated Ministry of Minority Affairs.
The Hindu community in Bangladesh continues to hold nationwide demonstrations demanding his unconditional release and the dismissal of all charges, calling the legal entanglements a tactic to suppress minority rights activism.