B'desh govt moves supreme court to stay Chinmoy Das bail in sedition case

The Bangladesh government late on Wednesday appealed to the Supreme Court's chamber judge to stay the bail order of spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das.

Earlier in the day, the Bangladesh High Court granted bail to spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in a sedition case. The order was passed by a bench of Justice Md Atoar Rahman and Justice Md Ali Reza.

Immediately after the bail order was issued, the state filed an application with the Chamber Court seeking a stay of the order. The court did not stay the High Court order but set a hearing date.

"We have filed an appeal. The hearing will be held on Sunday", Aneek R Haque, Additional Attorney General, told ANI, without elaborating.

A chamber judge is a judge who handles urgent and temporary matters, often during court vacation or when a full bench is unavailable.

"The allegation was completely false against our leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das. Seven months ago, he was arrested on November 25, 2024", Chinmoy's lawyer Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee told ANI in an interview.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, spokesperson of the Bangladesh Sanatani Jagran Jote and a former ISKCON leader, has been accused of insulting the national flag of Bangladesh and is facing sedition charges.

"There is no specific allegation against him for flag dishonour. We argued with all documents in favor of him and the court was satisfied and granted bail and the rule was absolute. We are happy for this judgement," Bhattacharjee said.

"We hope he will be freed within a week from Chittagong Central Jail after the order reaching to the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate court", he added.

"The government is trying to stay the order," Bhattacharjee said.

"But there is no sign of his speech or motivation or anything against Chinmoy Prabhu of sedition. Still now after seven months, there is no police investigation report", he said.