Bangladesh arrests outspoken Hindu monk leader

DHAKA: Bangladesh police said Monday they had arrested an outspoken Hindu monk who had been leading protests calling for the protection of the minority in the mainly Muslim nation.

Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesman of a newly-formed Hindu group who have held repeated rallies condemning what they say are atrocities meted out to their fellow devotees, was arrested in Dhaka, senior police detective Rezaul Karim Mallik said.

Religious relations have been turbulent in the South Asian nation of 170 million people since a student-led August revolution overthrew of long-time autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina.In the immediate chaotic days following Hasina’s ouster, there was a string of reprisals on Hindus -- seen by some as disproportionate supporters of her regime -- as well as attacks on Muslim Sufi shrines by Islamist hardliners.

Islamist groups have been emboldened to take to the streets after years of being suppressed, and Hindu groups have rallied in counter-demonstrations.Dhaka police spokesman Talebur Rahman confirmed the arrest but did not give details of the charges.

However, a case was filed against Brahmachari in October after he led a large rally in the city of Chittagong, where he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag.Brahmachari, of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group, was arrested as he travelled from the capital Dhaka to Chittagong, a senior leader of the group said.

“We are not aware of the charges brought against him,” the committee member Proshanto Kumar Haldar said, adding the group would stage rallies demanding he be released.“We urge people to join a human chain on Tuesday across the country,” he said.

Bangladesh’s Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, which supports religious minorities, condemned the arrest of Brahmachari.Brahmachari had formerly been a member of the more mainstream International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly called the Hare Krishna movement, before joining the new group.Hindus are the largest minority faith in Bangladesh, accounting for around eight percent of the population.