SC stays HC bail order for Chinmoy
The Supreme Court chamber judge yesterday stayed a High Court order granting bail to former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in a sedition case.
The case was filed on charges of disrespecting the Bangladesh national flag.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Justice Md Rezaul Haque, chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, issued the stay following a petition filed by the state challenging the High Court order.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque said Chinmoy's bail would remain stayed until the state files a leave-to-appeal petition against the HC verdict.
He added that the state would file the petition with the Appellate Division after receiving the full text of the HC judgment.
Lawyers MK Rahman, ZI Khan Panna, Anup Kumar Saha, Bivash Chandra Biswas and Prahlad Debnath represented Chinmoy during yesterday's hearing.
On April 30, the High Court granted bail to Chinmoy, who has been in custody in the sedition case since November.
On October 31 last year, Firoz Khan, former general secretary of Chattogram's Mohora ward BNP, filed the case with Kotwali Police Station, accusing Chinmoy and 18 others of disrespecting the national flag during a rally in the port city's New Market area six days earlier.
Chinmoy was arrested in the capital on November 25, and the following day a Chattogram court rejected his bail petition and sent him to jail.
When he was produced before the court that day (November 26), a clash broke out among his followers, police and lawyers. Saiful Islam Alif, a lawyer, was hacked to death in the court area. Chinmoy was shown arrested in the case filed for Saiful's murder on May 5.
In another development yesterday, Chinmoy was shown arrested by a Chattogram court in four more cases filed with Kotwali Police Station over inciting clashes, vandalism and attacks on cops on the court premises on November 26 last year.
Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate SM Alauddin Mahmud passed the order after the investigating officers of the cases filed applications with the court to show him arrested in the cases.
Due to security concerns, the hearing was held virtually around 10:00am.
Assistant Public Prosecutor of the Metro Sessions Court, Advocate Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury, confirmed the development to The Daily Star.
He told reporters, "Police filed three cases and Alif's brother filed another case over vandalism on the court premises, attacks on police and general people; crude bomb explosions; and obstructing police from discharging duties during the clashes on November 26."
The investigating officers of the respective cases submitted petitions to show Chinmoy arrested, he said.
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