Dhaka: At least thirty five members of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) were rejected by immigration at Bangladeshi border at Benapole on Sunday even if they all seemed to have their relevant permits.
The Daily Star reported that Imtiaz Ahsanul Kadir Bhuiyan, the officer in charge of Benapole immigration police, said, The members were refused permission to cross the border] after consulting with the police special branch and receiving instructions from their superiors. He ensured the three that while they possessed valid passports and visas they were not cleared by the Indian government to travel to the United States.
The fifty-four devotees, who had rushed from different districts mobilised themselves at the checkpoint on late Saturday night by a Sunday morning. After they waited for several hours to have their request approved, they were told that they cannot travel that way. ISCKCON patron Saurabh Tapandar Cheli said, “We were about to go to India to register in a religious event but the immigration rejected us saying that they didn’t get permission from government.”
In another case of increasing vulnerability for minorities in Bangladeshi society, a young man hailing from Kolkata was beaten in Dhaka after his Indian ‘Hindu’ identity was established. A 22-year-old Belgharia man, Sayan ghosh said that he had gone to Bangladesh on 23 November for a friend’s house as the friend’s family received him well.
Recalling his experience, Ghosh told PTI that, on November 26 evening, when he and his friend had gone to take a walk, they were accosted by four or five young men. “They cordoned me around 70 yards from my friend’s house and asked me who I was.” When I informed them that I was Indian and a Hindu, they started beating me up and also injured my friend who tried to intervene,” he stated.
They show how the situation of religious minorities in the region has worsened in the recent past due to the increased acts of violence and threats.
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