Bangladesh court to hear arrested Hindu leader's bail plea on Tuesday

A court in Bangladesh has set December 3 as the date for the bail hearing of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das arrested last week on sedition charges, according to a media report.

Tuesday's hearing will be conducted by Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Saiful Islam, according to Additional Deputy Commissioner Mofizur Rahman of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police.

A Chattogram court official said that the date for the hearing had already been set but the announcement was delayed due to a boycott and work abstention by lawyers on Wednesday and Thursday.

The hearing will take place on December 3, bdnews24.com reported.

Das, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, was arrested from Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday for alleged sedition. He was denied bail and sent to jail by a Chattogram court on Tuesday, triggering protests by his supporters.

A lawyer was killed during violence in Bangladesh's southeastern port city of Chattogram over his arrest.

On October 30, a sedition case was filed against 19 people, including Das, at Chattogram's Kotwali Police Station, accusing them of disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag in Chattogram's New Market area during a rally of the Hindu community.

Bangladesh's authorities on Thursday ordered freezing for 30 days the bank accounts of 17 people associated with International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), including its former member Das.