Bangladesh Supreme Court lawyer Rabindra Ghosh at son’s residence in Barrackpore, near Kolkata on Tuesday. Partha Paul

 

‘This Is Not Bangladesh That Was Born in 1971… This Is New Pakistan’

By Tanusree Bose

Barrackpore: “I am not a coward. I have not fled Bangladesh. I will return to my country and continue fighting for justice and release of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das,” says 75-year-old Rabindra Ghosh seated in the terrace of his son’s Barrackpore residence as a stream of visitors crowd the house.

Ghosh, a Supreme Court lawyer of Bangladesh, however, feels that he is no longer able to recognize his country. “The interim government of Mohd Yunus claims that they are the new government, but this is not Bangladesh born in 1971. It’s another Bangladesh, born on August 8, 2024 (the day the government of  Sheikh Hasina  was overthrown by a students’ movement). The intention is to destroy the country. They are trying to create a new Bangladesh, and a new Pakistan,” Ghosh, who reached Kolkata two days ago for medical treatment at AIIMS, Kalyani, tells  The Indian Express .

Ghosh, who is also the chairman of Bangladesh Minority Watch, twice tried to appear at the Chittagong metropolitan sessions judge’s court to file a bail application for the ISKCON monk Das, arrested on  sedition  charge, but could not.

“Chinmoy Krishna Das is a monk, with a very dedicated personality. He was doing very good work in Bangladesh, for the society and the country. He has been arrested on flimsy and false cases. It is not a sedition case. It is a concocted and motivated case. The sedition case was filed against him as his popularity was increasing in Bangladesh and that was not liked by a section of people. This arrest is an instigation by other political parties,” Ghosh says, adding he received death threats for representing the monk in the court.

“It is a difficult situation. Most of the lawyers trying to defend Chinmoy Krishna Das have been implicated in murder cases… I, being a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, have been debarred from going to Chittagong to represent the monk in the court there. I have been told to employ another lawyer from Chittagong Bar Association. Why? Many lawyers cannot go as they are afraid that they could be arrested. Since I have been representing Chinmoy Krishna Das in the court, many lawyers, especially those of the prosecution, are annoyed with me,” says Ghosh.

“When I went to the court and tried to argue in my client’s’ defense, most of the lawyers, belonging to the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party), threatened me, heckled me. On the second day, the police saved me. The lawyers chanted slogans, calling me ‘dalal of India’. In trying to meet Chinmoy Krishna Das in jail, I was harassed at every step,” he says.

“It is unfortunate as I am a citizen of Bangladesh. We achieved Independence in 1971, and I am a freedom fighter. But in spite of it, this discrimination continues. We are fighting against discrimination,” he adds.

According to Ghosh, following the fall of the Hasina government, atrocities on people, particularly on religious minorities, have increased. “There is no law and order in the country. Minorities are being tortured and displaced from their homes… During Sheikh Hasina’s rule, there was security of life, but now there is no security… Bangladesh has forgotten its past. The country was liberated with the help of India. So many soldiers were killed by the Pakistan Army. The contribution of India is enormous, but the people have forgotten it… Everyone has to unite and decide that a peaceful existence is required. Only then, Bangladesh can reestablish democracy and secularism,” he adds.

Though his family worries about his safety and wants him to stay back in Kolkata, Ghosh says he is determined to return. “I am not afraid of death. I will return to my country and continue fighting for justice,” he adds. - The Indian Express Pvt Ltd