Two ISKCON Devotees Missing In Bangladesh After Priest’s Arrest

Dhaka: A day after the arrest of the second Hindu monk, Shyam Das Prabhu, in Bangladesh, two other disciples of the detained spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das have gone missing in Chattogram, according to Radharamn Das, spokesperson for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Kolkata, on Saturday.

Sharing a picture of four Hindu priests, Radharamn Das wrote: “Do they look like terrorists? All of them have been arrested by Bangladeshi police without any reason.”

He also retweeted a post claiming, “After Chinmoy Krishna Das, two more Hindu saints Ranganath Shyamsunder Das Brahmachari and Rudrapati Keshav Das Brahmachari were arrested from Pundarik Dham by Bangladesh Police.”

While there has been no official comment on the arrests or detentions of Shyam Das Prabhu and two other ISKCON devotees—who were reportedly on their way to deliver food to Chinmoy Krishna Das—sources have claimed that they were detained by authorities without a warrant.

Sources also indicated that ISKCON Bangladesh prevented some priests from heading to India, following reports of at least four Hindu priests being in custody.

Attack on Minorities in Bangladesh

Reports of attacks on Hindus continue to emerge from Bangladesh. Earlier today, journalist Munni Saha was taken into custody after being targeted by radical Islamist forces and surrounded by a mob. Saha was accosted and threatened by a group of radicals in the heart of Dhaka, at Karwan Bazar, on Saturday evening while leaving her office. She was later released, according to sources.

Journalists in the country have also raised concerns about facing difficulties as hundreds of accreditations have been cancelled amid the growing radical targeting of the minority community in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh government is also focusing on ISKCON, with authorities reportedly ordering the freezing of bank accounts for 30 days of 17 individuals associated with the organization, including its former member Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was arrested this week on sedition charges.

An ISKCON center in the Bhairav area of Bangladesh was vandalized by an angry mob. ISKCON has over 100 centers across the country, where Hindus make up approximately 8% of the total population of 170 million.

Earlier, on Friday, three Hindu temples in Chattogram were attacked by a slogan-shouting mob. The city has seen protests and violence since the booking of former ISKCON member Chinmoy Krishna Das.

Must Read: “We are deeply concerned about situation of our devotees in Bangladesh”: ISKCON Raises Concerns Over Safety

Reports also indicate that members of the minority community have been attacked by mobs. Sayan Ghosh, a resident of Kolkata, claimed that radical elements brutally beat him during a recent trip to Bangladesh. Ghosh said he was targeted after confirming he was a Hindu from India. He returned home on Saturday night via the Gede-Darshan border.

India expresses “Serious concern”

India has expressed its “serious concern” to Bangladesh over the “increasing incidents of violence” against the minority Hindu community in the neighboring country. New Delhi has also shared its worries with Dhaka regarding the “surge in extremist rhetoric.”

During its weekly press briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs informed reporters that India has been regularly and consistently in touch with the interim government in Bangladesh about the rising cases of communal incidents targeting the Hindu minority.

There is also a political consensus in India, with parties supporting the Union government’s appropriate action on the matter.

Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee spoke on the issue, saying, “The images surfacing from Bangladesh are infuriating and make blood boil. I have cleared my stand that you have to follow the Constitution of the country and the state has no role in it. The onus is on the Union government to take it up with the Bangladesh government in the strongest manner or in the language they understand.”

Also Read: Bangladesh Freezes Bank Accounts of 17 ISKCON Members After Arrest