Three temples attacked, vandalised in CTG

Allegations of attacks and vandalism have been reported at three Hindu temples in Chattogram’s Patharghata.

The attack occurred at around 2:30 pm at the Harish Chandra Munsef Lane, where the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the nearby Shoni Temple, and Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple were targeted.

According to temple authorities, a group of several hundred people, chanting slogans, threw brickbats at the temples, damaging the Shoni Temple and the gates of the other two temples.

Police, however, said the damage to the temples was minimal after the confrontation between the two sides, with both groups throwing brickbats at each other.

Tapan Das, a permanent member of the Shantineshwari Main Temple management committee, and a leader of the Harish Chandra Munsef Lane community, said: “A procession of hundreds arrived after the Juma prayers. They started shouting anti-Hindu and anti-ISKCON slogans.”

“The attackers began hitting the main gate of the Shantoneshwari Temple, and threw brickbats. During this time, they vandalised the Shoni Temple and also attacked the Kali Temple. Several nearby shops were also targeted,” he added.

He continued,” We did not obstruct the attackers. When the situation worsened, we called the army, who arrived quickly and helped restore order. All the temple gates were closed before noon. The attackers arrived unprovoked and carried out the attack.”

Kotwali Police Station chief Abdul Karim confirmed the attack, saying that miscreants attempted to damage the temples.

“Both sides threw brickbats at each other. During this, the miscreants attacked a small temple. Police intervened to control the situation between both parties,” he told bdnews24.com

The OC added that the situation in the area is now under control.

CONTEXT

Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the principal of the ISKCON-run temple Pundarik Dham in Chattogram, is leading an organisation called the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jote.

Since the change in power in August, the alliance has been vocal in demanding an end to minority persecution, among other eight key demands.

On Oct 30, a sedition case was filed against Chinmoy Das and 19 others for an incident involving the placement of a saffron flag over the national flag.

Police detained Chinmoy from Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport on Monday.

On Tuesday, a Chattogram court denied him bail and ordered his remand, leading to protests by the Hindu community outside the court.

The protest lasted for around two and a half hours before police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd. During the running battles between protesters and court lawyers and staff, lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was killed.

Since then, a tense atmosphere has prevailed in Chattogram, despite calls for calm and restraint from the government and political parties.

Several groups, including the Anti-discrimination Student Movement and Hifazat-e Islam, have called for the banning of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, in Bangladesh.

A lawyer also filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding the same, although the High Court did not issue any such order.

ISKCON has denied any involvement in the lawyer’s death and the protests, labelling attempts to falsely implicate them for the incident as “unfair”.