Latest news with #BangladeshSupremeCourt
Hindustan Times
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Dhaka's pivot to revenge politics
The indictment of former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina by a tribunal on Sunday for ordering a police crackdown on protestors last year coincided with a Bangladesh Supreme Court order directing the Election Commission to restore the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party. The International Crimes Tribunal, set up by Hasina's government in 2009 to investigate crimes during Bangladesh's war of liberation in 1971, indicted her along with former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and senior police official Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun for what prosecutors said was a 'coordinated, widespread and systematic attack' on students and other activists whose protests led to the ouster of the Awami League regime last year. The tribunal also ordered that Hasina — living in self-exile in India since last August — should be produced before it on June 16. New Delhi has not acted so far on Dhaka's request for extradition, maintaining that the latter has not completed all the required formalities. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court order will enable the Jamaat-e-Islami, which has espoused an anti-India line, to participate in general elections whenever they are held. At the same time, the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus has banned the activities of Awami League under the country's anti-terror law until the party's leadership has been tried by the tribunal. All these developments are a pointer to the direction that Bangladesh is taking under the caretaker administration. It has not gone unnoticed that the order on the Jamaat-e-Islami and the proceedings in the tribunal have come at a time when political parties, especially the influential Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and the powerful army have stepped up calls for holding elections by the year-end. Clearly, Bangladesh is sliding towards a phase that rejects the legacy of 1971, and where ideologies that are anti-India and pro-Islamist gain ground. Yunus, who has given hints of making way for an elected government by June 2026, appears to be pitting the various stakeholders in Bangladesh against each other. Rather than the churn in the country settling anytime soon, matters may take a turn for the worse, especially if the army sticks to its stand for elections to be held by December and Yunus, backed by student groups, refuses to yield. New Delhi needs to remain on guard for further complications.
NDTV
30-04-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Bangladesh Supreme Court Orders Stay On Bail To Hindu Monk Chinmoy Das
Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday evening stayed the High Court order given earlier in the day granting bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das, or Chandan Kumar Dhar, the former ISKCON monk and spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jote in a sedition case. Judge of the Appellate Division Justice, Rezaul Haque, passed the order after hearing an appeal filed by the state counsel hours after the High Court granted him bail. The stay order will remain in force until the filing of a leave-to-appeal petition and release of the full text of the verdict. Earlier, the Bangladesh High Court granted bail to Mr Das, who was arrested on November 25 last year on charges of sedition, linked to alleged disrespect of the national flag during a rally in Chattogram. His arrest had sparked widespread outrage across the world. Wednesday's bail for Mr Das, the President of Pundarik Dham, who has been a voice for those seeking religious freedom and minority protection, had come nearly six months after his arrest. Chinmoy was arrested in Dhaka on November 25 and sent to jail the following day after a Chattogram court rejected his bail plea. On December 11, 2024, the same court again refused bail in the case. The arrest of Mr Das had sparked massive protests by the Hindu community in Bangladesh, which has been in political turmoil since August 2024 when Sheikh Hasina was removed amidst widespread violent demonstrations. In the following nine months, Bangladesh has witnessed rising cases of attacks on the Hindu community ever since the Hasina-led government was toppled and an interim administration was formed under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus. India has taken a tough line on the rights of the Hindu minority and repeatedly stated that there is "systematic persecution of Hindu minorities" under the Yunus-led interim government. Recently, Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a prominent leader of the Hindu community associated with the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Committee, was abducted from his home and beaten to death by four individuals on April 18.
