An “academic symposium” on the violation of human rights upon the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh was held at a hotel in Kolkata on Thursday by the All India Legal Aid Forum (AILAF). Rabindra Ghosh, the prominent advocate in Bangladesh defending the arrested Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, was also present at the meeting.
Ghosh, who was allegedly heckled and attacked while he was trying to appear on behalf of Chinmoy Krishna Das at the Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions judge’s court, told the symposium how successive governments in Bangladesh have shifted away from the country’s foundational ideals of democracy based on socialism and secularism.
Talking about how even the judiciary has been taken over, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh advocate said, “In many cases, I have appeared where the victims were Hindus. I told the judge in similar cases a Muslim had been given bail. All grounds are the same. I asked then why a Hindu wouldn’t be given bail. Nothing happened.”
“I was forced to withdraw a case related to the protection of a temple. We tried to register 3000 such cases but the court didn’t help us,” he added, claiming there’s a sense of ethnic cleansing in how the minorities are being violated of their rights.
The septuagenarian lawyer, who is also associated with Bangladesh Minority Watch and Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities, said that they have reached out to the United Nations and the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court.
“If they don’t give us justice, then surely we have to go to higher authorities.”
The AILAF extended its support to Ghosh and issued a powerful statement, wherein it condemned the "traumatic torture" faced by the minority Hindu community and said it “is a direct violation of Human Rights, Fundamental Rights and International Rights”.
The forum called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the International Court of Justice, and the Bangladesh government to take immediate action to safeguard the Hindu community, halt violence against them, conduct thorough investigations into these incidents, and release Hindu religious leaders involved.
Several former Indian Army officers, including Brigadier Debasish Das and Colonel Soumitra Roy, were also present at the symposium, along with Samir Kumar Mitra, the former DIG of BSF, and C.S. Karnan, a former judge of Calcutta and Madras high courts.
Colonel Roy said, “Indian soldiers shed their blood and died for the independence of Bangladesh. What’s happening in the neighbouring country is unexpected. India will take the right steps at the right time.”