Another Hindu Priest Arrested and Temples Vandalized Amid Rising Tensions in Bangladesh

Minorities have been targeted since the change of power in Bangladesh. A few days after the arrest of spiritual leader Chinmay Krishna Das, another Hindu priest has been arrested in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The arrested priest has been identified as Shyam Das Prabhu, who allegedly went to meet Chinmay Krishna Das in jail. Sources said that he had been arrested without any official warrant.

Radharaman Das, Vice President and Spokesperson of ISKCON Kolkata has also posted about his arrest on the social media platform X, in which he said that another Brahmachari Shyam Das Prabhu has been arrested by the Chittagong Police.

Hindu priest Chinmay Krishna Das, a former member of Bangladesh's International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was arrested on Monday in a sedition case. At the same time, he was denied bail on Tuesday. After this member of the Hindu community started protesting at various places in Bangladesh including the capital Dhaka.

After Das was not granted bail, there was a fierce clash between police and protesters outside the Chittagong court on Tuesday, in which a lawyer died. Police said on Saturday that at least nine people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Assistant Public Prosecutor Saifullah Islam.

These people were arrested after registering a case against 46 people, mostly sanitation workers of the minority Hindu community.

A slogan-shouting mob vandalized three Hindu temples in Chittagong, Bangladesh on Friday. Protests have been going on in Chittagong since a sedition case was registered against a former ISKCON member. News portal 'BDNews24.com' said in its report that the attack took place at around 2:30 pm in Harish Chandra Munsef Lane of the port city and during this Shantaneshwari Matri Mandir, Shani Mandir and Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple were targeted.

"A mob of hundreds of slogan-shouting people hurled bricks and stones at the temples, damaging the gates of the Shani temple and two other temples," the news portal quoted temple officials as saying.

Kotwali police station chief Abdul Karim confirmed the attack and said the attackers tried to damage the temples. Police said the temples suffered minimal damage.