 "Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari has reportedly been detained in Bangladesh.")
Bangladesh-based ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari has been detained at Dhaka airport, according to reports.
Earlier this month, the Bangladeshi authorities filed a sedition case against Brahmachari. Reports say that he was stopped from leaving the country on Monday and was taken to a police station. There has not been any official confirmation of his arrest so far.
Brahmachari has been a vocal voice against violence against Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh. Violence against Hindus and other religious minorities has enveloped the country since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The new unelected interim regime of Mohammed Yunus, propped by the military and agitating groups, has been widely criticised for failing to check violence against minorities.
As Brahmachari has been a leading voice of Bangladesh’s Hindus, the Yunus regime’s actions against him have been seen as a move to silence the wider Hindu community by sending a message to them.
At a rally last month, Brahmachari had said, “If anyone wants to evict us from this country and live in peace, it will become Afghanistan or Syria. There will be no democratic force. Bangladesh will become a sanctuary of communalism.”
While there has not been any confirmation of the arrest, Kanchan Gupta, a senior advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said on X: “Hindu leader and ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari is reported arrested in Dhaka by Yunus Regime Police. Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was charged with sedition after he led a massive rally of Hindus protesting targeted hate attacks and protection from Islamists. Tallest leader of the Hindu community is believed to have been taken to Detective Branch of Yunus Regime.”