ISKCON official, 18 others sued over disrespecting national flag

A sedition case was filed against 19 people today on charges of disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag in Chattogram's New Market area on Friday.

Chandan Kumar Dhar, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, divisional organising secretary of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Chattogram, is among the accused. Firoz Khan, a resident of the Mohora area, filed the case with Kotwali Police Station last night.

Police have arrested two of the accused -- Rajesh Chowdhury and Hriday Das -- in the Chattogram's Sadarghat area last evening.

The other accused are Ajay Dutta, Leela Raj Das Brahmachari, Gopal Das Tipu, Dr Kathak Das, Engineer Amit Dhar, Roni Das, Rajib Das, Krishna Kumar Dutta, Jiku Chowdhury, Newton Dey, Tushar Chakraborty Rajib, Mithun Dey, Rupan Dhar, Rimon Dutta, Sukanta Das and Biswajit Gupta.

According to the case statement, the incident occurred on October 25, when a group of youths reportedly placed a saffron-coloured flag over the Bangladeshi flag on a pillar at Zero Point near the New Market intersection during a rally organised by the Hindu community under the banner "Sanatan Jagaran Mancha".

The rally, held at Lal Dighi, was to press for eight specific demands.