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Dozens of members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) who were travelling to India were turned back by the Bangladeshi authorities, even though they had valid passports and visas.
The Telegraph online reports that they were turned back on Sunday at the Benapole border because they “lacked specific government permission” required for their travel.
“We consulted the special branch of police and received instructions from the higher authorities not to permit them (cross the border),” Imtiaz Ahsanul Quader Bhuiyan, officer in charge of the Benapole Immigration Police, said.
The 34 group members included devotees from various districts who arrived at the check post on Saturday night and Sunday morning. But after waiting for hours for permission, they were told their travel was not authorized.
One of them said, “We came to participate in a religious ceremony taking place in India but immigration officers stopped us, citing the absence of government permission.”
The development comes as the organization is under scanner in Bangladesh following the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in a sedition case.
A lawyer was killed when violence erupted in the southeastern port city of Chattogram after Das was denied bail. It attracted widespread condemnation and demands to ban ISKCON in Bangladesh.
The authorities in Bangladesh have frozen the bank accounts of 17 ISKCON associates, including Chinmoy Krishna Das, for 30 days
