“We are getting so many phone calls from monks and devotees in Bangladesh regarding incidents of assaults on them on the streets after they are identified by their tilak and saffron. So, I have personally advised devotees and monks to be discreet. They should avoid saffron and tilak in public. They should hide their tulsi beads and cover their heads. This is so that they are not identified,” Radharamn Das told The Indian Express.
“Their lives are at risk in Bangladesh. They should practice (religious activities) discreetly at home and inside centres. It is a question of their lives now,” he said.
Protests have broken out in West Bengal and other parts of India over the arrest last month of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Dhaka. Das, who was accused of treason, had been leading protests in Bangladesh against alleged atrocities on minorities in the country.
On Tuesday, he was brought to a court in Chattogram for bail hearing, but none of his lawyers were present, leading to the hearing being postponed to January 2.
ISKCON alleged that lawyers representing Das had been assaulted, and that one of them is in ICU in critical condition. Houses and chambers of lawyers defending Das were also ransacked by miscreants, it has been alleged.
Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Nandigram BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, has called on international human rights groups to intervene in Bangladesh.
“Fundamentalists ransacked houses and assaulted lawyers defending the monk, Chinmoy Krishna Das… They are worse than Taliban and ISIS… On the other hand, police have slapped cases against Hindu lawyers who defended him in court,” said Adhikari.
“None of the 51 lawyers who defended him (in court on November 26) could appear in court today. I appeal to all international human rights organisations to intervene in Bangladesh. The situation is only getting worse. There are no human rights for minorities in Bangladesh… I appeal to ISKCON for a strong reaction internationally,” he said.
ISKCON’s Radharamn Das appealed to the Bangladesh government to provide protection to the lawyers. “We had feared this would happen. Now, in an atmosphere of fear, how will advocates, who are assaulted and their homes ransacked, appear in court? Cases are slapped against them, too. We appeal to the Bangladesh government to provide protection to lawyers defending him. In a democratic country, it is shocking to see lawyers could not appear for their clients, fearing for their own lives,” he said.
Apart from Das, ISKCON has alleged that two more monks, including Das’s assistant, were also arrested. Besides, 63 monks with valid visas were stopped by Bangladesh authorities at the border and not allowed to enter India, the organisation said.