On Thursday, a court in Chattogram, Bangladesh, denied the bail request of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a Hindu monk who was detained after being arrested by the Dhaka Police on November 25 in relation to a sedition case. 

A team of 11 Supreme Court lawyers travelled from Dhaka to Chattogram to file a bail plea. However, Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam rejected the plea after hearing arguments from both sides for about 30 minutes, according to Dhaka-based The Daily Star. The team was led by senior advocate Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee, who represented Chinmoy. Bhattacharjee, who is also the spokesperson for the Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote (an organisation Chinmoy is associated with), told The Daily Star that they plan to appeal to the High Court for bail. "We presented our arguments before the court. The prosecution opposed the bail. The court rejected it. We will take the next step by moving to the higher court," former Bangladeshi Deputy Attorney General Apurba Kumar Bhattacharya told the Dhaka-based Business Standard. 

Chinmoy Krishna Das was not brought to court on Thursday, as reported by The Daily Star. The hearing took place under heavy security, a month after no lawyer dared to represent Chinmoy in the Chattogram court due to threats from Islamists, who warned they would publicly thrash anyone who stepped forward. Chinmoy’s former lawyer, Rabindranath Ghosh, is currently undergoing treatment at Kolkata's Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial (SSKM) Hospital after experiencing sudden chest pain. Ghosh, a 75-year-old senior lawyer, faced harassment and was attacked outside the court in December when he attempted to file a bail petition for Chinmoy. During the hearing, hundreds of lawyers packed the courtroom, causing chaos. A week after Chinmoy was arrested, Ghosh, who is also an attorney for the Supreme Court, attempted to get relief for him.

Chinmoy became a significant advocate for minorities, especially Hindus, after the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, which triggered widespread attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. On November 25, Dhaka Police's Detective Branch arrested Das on sedition charges. The next day, November 26, the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate's Court rejected his bail application. On November 29, two further monks who visited Das in jail were also imprisoned. In an exclusive interview with India Today Digital earlier in November, Das claimed that the sedition charge was an attempt to remove the leaders of the minority rights demonstrations during Muhammad Yunus' rule.