B'desh summons Indian envoy; no relief for monk

Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the Indian envoy to protest the storming of the Bangladeshi consulate in Agartala as diplomatic tensions mounted over protests in several states bordering the neighbouring country over the targeting of minority communities and arrest of monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.

Das, who was arrested on November 25 and is facing charges of sedition, failed to get any relief from a Bangladesh court, which deferred the hearing on his bail petition till January 2.

This means the monk could remain in jail for another month.

Swatantra Gauranga Das, an associate of Das, said no lawyer represented him due to threats from a "politically motivated lawyers' group". Public prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan confirmed that Chattogram metropolitan session judge Saiful Islam ordered the bail hearing to be held next month after the prosecution petitioned for more time and added that no defence lawyer represented Das.

Bilateral ties have deteriorated since Das's arrest, with protests sweeping states such as West Bengal and Tripura. The demonstrations peaked on Monday, when a large group of people protesting the persecution of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh barged into the Bangladesh consulate in Agartala and vandalised it. New Delhi described the breach as "deeply regrettable" and increased security for all Bangladeshi missions in India.

On Tuesday afternoon, Indian high commissioner Pranay Verma was summoned to the Dhaka foreign ministry, where he met Bangladesh's acting foreign secretary Riaz Hamidullah for almost half an hour, according to local media reports. Senior Indian diplomats have not been called into the foreign ministry in recent years, and the development reflected the downturn in ties since former premier Sheikh Hasina stepped down in August. Protests against the persecution of Bangladesh's Hindu minority and the arrest of Das on sedition charges last month were organised on Tuesday in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.