12 arrested in Kolkata for protesting outside Bangladesh Deputy High Commission; granted bail

KOLKATA(West Bengal): 12 people were arrested in West Bengal’s Kolkata on Friday for protesting against the atrocities being committed against minorities in Bangladesh.

The pro-Hindu activists, who carried out a rally and sat outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office in Kolkata, were produced before the Alipore Police Court.

The court granted them bail on a bond of Rs 3,000 each.

Advocate Chandan Kumar Saha said, “The court has granted bail to them on a bond of Rs 3,000 each.”

Thousands of saffron-clad activists, associated with pro-Hindu organisations, gathered in Kolkata on Friday and sat outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission to protest the atrocities being committed against minorities in the neighbouring country.

The pro-Hindu activists held a rally, which was accompanied by West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari. They entered the premises of the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh to speak to the authorities regarding atrocities against Hindus.

Adhikari demanded that atrocities against Bangladeshi Hindus be stopped and warned of an intensified protest if demands were not met.

“1,000 sadhus have gathered here against what happened with Dipu Das and the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. We demand that the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh should stop. If our demand is not met, all saints who come to Ganga Sagar Mela will come and sit in protest here,” the BJP leader said.

On Wednesday, The Daily Star reported that a Hindu youth identified as Amrit Mondal was lynched at Hosendanga village of Kalimohor union in Rajbari’s Pangsha sub-district over an extortion allegation.

Police rushed to the spot upon receiving information last night and rescued Samrat in a critical condition.

The murder of Mondal took place days after the mob lynching and burning of the Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district.

A worker in a garment factory, Dipu Chandra Das, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges and had his body hanged and set on fire on December 18.

The Daily Star, citing Mymensingh’s Additional Superintendent of Police, Abdullah Al Mamun, stated that a factory official had informed Bhaluka police that a group of workers attacked Dipu inside the factory, accusing him of making “derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad” in a Facebook post.

However, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-14 Company Commander in Mymensingh, Md Samsuzzaman, told The Daily Star that investigators found no evidence suggesting the deceased had posted or written anything on Facebook that could have hurt religious sentiments, adding that neither residents nor fellow garment factory workers could point to any such activity by the victim. (ANI)