Guwahati: The Rights and Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding the alleged arbitrary detention of ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari by the Interim Government of Bangladesh.
Chinmoy Brahmachari, a prominent minority Hindu religious monk, was arrested at Dhaka Airport on November 25, 2024, under charges of sedition.
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The RRAG termed these charges as politically motivated false charges.
He was denied bail and sent to jail the following day.
The RRAG termed the detention as arbitrary citing the “lack of evidence and the failure of the police to” follow Bangladesh’s national laws regarding detention.
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The complaint also stated that Chinmoy Brahmachari was exercising his right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly when he was arrested.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is a thematic special procedure overseen by the United Nations Human Rights Council, focusing on arbitrary detention, including instances in which States imprison or otherwise detain individuals in a manner not allowed by law or without respecting due process guarantees.
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The RRAG has urged the UN Working Group to register the petition and provide an opinion regarding Chinmoy Brahmachari’s detention.
In its complaint, RRAG stated that a bare perusal of the two-page complaint filed by one Md Firoz Khan on October 31 shows that the entire first page of the complaint pertains to a description of 19 accused persons.
They added that the complaint filed against Chinmoy Brahmachari alleged that unknown individuals, instigated by Brahmachari and others, placed ISKCON’s saffron-coloured flags above national flags at New Market Zero Point in Chittagong on October 25.
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“The complaint claims that this act is equivalent to challenging Bangladesh’s territorial integrity and creating communal disturbances. However, the complainant, Md Firoz Khan, failed to provide any evidence to support these allegations”, they stated.
The RRAG further stated, “In the complaint filed by Firoz Khan, there was no allegation that Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari and other accused persons were directly involved in the alleged putting up of the ISKCON flag over the Bangladeshi national flag.”
The actual alleged offenders were not identified or named, said RRAG. “Most importantly, there is no evidence that those who had put up the alleged flags were even ISKCON activists, and not of any other party or individuals. Even if several flags are put on a pillar, it is natural that the flags move around because of the winds and it can never constitute an offence of sedition”, stated Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG.
He stated, “The entire complaint is fictitious and an attempt to use the law to silence those who are organizing the religious minorities. Till his arrest, the police did not ask Chinmoy Brahmachari to join the investigation as required under Sections 160 and 161 of the Bangladesh Criminal Procedure Code. The Bangladesh Police did not even follow its own national laws regarding the arbitrary detention of Mr Chinmoy Brahmachari.”