‘Must get a fair trial’: India on rejection of Hindu monk's bail plea in Bangladesh

India on Friday called for a fair trial for those arrested in Bangladesh, this after jailed Hindu monk Chinmoy Das's bail plea was rejected by a local court in the neighbouring country.

"We expect that those people who have been arrested in Bangladesh must get a fair trial and this is our appeal," ANI quoted ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying.

Das, a former ISKCON leader, was arrested on November 25 on sedition charges. According to an ANI report, his lawyer told the court that the priest respects the motherland "like his mother" and is not a traitor.

The bail request was turned down by Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam after hearing both parties' arguments, according to Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Advocate Mofizur Haque Bhuiyan.

Monindro Kumar Nath, general secretary of Hindu Buddaha Christan Unity Council, said they will move the high court for bail.

"We argued in the court that if he gets bail it could create anarchy as we saw in the past that he triggered violence on the court premises by calling thousands of his supporters to protest. So, we moved against his bail plea as we believed that he could misuse his bail," public prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan told AP.

Hindu monk arrested for allegedly desecrating Bangladesh flag

He was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly "desecrating" the Bangladesh flag brought to Chattogram where subsequent violence over his arrest left a government prosecutor dead, sparking further tensions.

On December 11, the court rejected a plea seeking advanced hearing of his bail petition by lawyer Rabindra Ghose ruling that it would be heard on the previously fixed date on January 2, 2025.

Court officials said the judge at that time rejected the plea as the lawyer who filed the petition seeking the advanced hearing (Ghose) did not have the power of attorney from the monk.