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Hindu monk Chinmoy Das to be questioned in 2 cases in Bangladesh jail

Hindu monk Chinmoy Das to be questioned in 2 cases in Bangladesh jail

India Today18-05-2025
A court in Bangladesh on Sunday granted a two-day remand for Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, who will be questioned in two cases - one related to sedition and another pertaining to the murder of a lawyer.On April 30, Das was granted bail by the Bangladesh High Court in a sedition case. However, his release was delayed after the government appealed to the appellate division to pause the bail order. Subsequently, he was shown being arrested in five more cases.advertisementSunday's order was issued by Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate SM Alauddin's court following a hearing. The matter was confirmed by Assistant Public Prosecutor Md Raihanul Wajed Chowdhury.Chowdhury said the investigation officer in the cases had requested court permission to interrogate Das at the jail gate for the two cases filed at Kotwali Police Station. Following the hearing, the court granted one day of jail gate interrogation for each case, totalling two days.The former Iskcon priest was not presented in court during the hearing.On May 6, a court ordered Das to be shown arrested in four separate cases, including a murder case filed by the brother of murdered lawyer Saiful Islam Alif and three others related to violent clashes on November 26, 2024, in the Chattogram court area.On November 26, 2024, when the court rejected bail for Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) expelled leader Feroz Khan in a sedition case, violent protests erupted on the court premises. During the clashes, Alif was killed. Five separate cases were filed in connection with the incident, involving over 2,000 accused individuals.advertisementThe sedition case was filed against Das on October 31, 2024, in which he was accused of disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag. Eighteen others were also named as accused in the case, The Dhaka Tribune reported.On November 26, 2024, the Chattogram court ordered Das to be sent to jail after rejecting his bail in the sedition case.Must Watch
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Explained: Why Thailand and Cambodia are clashing over ancient temples
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Temple, Territory, Tensions: Why Thailand, Cambodia Are Trading Blows Again, Should India Worry?
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Temple, Territory, Tensions: Why Thailand, Cambodia Are Trading Blows Again, Should India Worry?

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Closures disrupt local economies, impacting 50,000 border residents, per The Nation. What Are The Implications For India & The Region? For India, with its $44 billion space economy and ASEAN trade ties, the Thailand-Cambodia clash is a cautionary tale. India's border disputes with China, costing $10 billion annually in military spending, per a 2024 NITI Aayog report, mirror the economic toll of such conflicts. The crisis threatens ASEAN unity, critical for India's $130 billion trade with the region, per MEA 2024. The clash also risks refugee flows, with 10,000 Cambodians displaced in 2011, per UNHCR, impacting India's regional security. The Thailand-Cambodia stand-off is not a mere border dispute. It is a flashpoint with the capacity to draw in wider regional interests. If unresolved, it risks destabilising ASEAN's unity and threatening India's broader ties in a region of growing geo-economic importance. The path ahead demands diplomacy, economic partnerships, and principled peace—lest this bruise on regional harmony turns into a deeper wound. About the Author Shilpy Bisht Shilpy Bisht, Deputy News Editor at News18, writes and edits national, world and business stories. She started off as a print journalist, and then transitioned to online, in her 12 years of experience. Her More Get Latest Updates on Movies, Breaking News On India, World, Live Cricket Scores, And Stock Market Updates. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : ASEAN countries Cambodia thailand view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: July 24, 2025, 13:13 IST News explainers Temple, Territory, Tensions: Why Thailand, Cambodia Are Trading Blows Again, Should India Worry? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Ancient Hindu temple with Shivling and the Thailand-Cambodia war
Ancient Hindu temple with Shivling and the Thailand-Cambodia war

India Today

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  • India Today

Ancient Hindu temple with Shivling and the Thailand-Cambodia war

After Thai forces on Wednesday alleged that they spotted a Cambodian drone along the dense, mountainous Dangrek border, tensions escalated between Thailand and Cambodia. The incident quickly escalated into exchanges of gunfire, rocket attacks, and airstrikes involving F-16 fighter jets. At the heart of the military clashes between the two Southeast Asian neighbours lies an age-old border dispute, a colonial legacy left by the French, where a complex of three ancient Hindu temples, dating back to the 11th century, now escalated significantly, with both nations expelling each other's ambassadors and downgrading diplomatic relations to their lowest epicentre of the current war is near the Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple, perched atop dense forests along the ridge which is along the Thailand-Cambodia border. The group of 11th-century Khmer Hindu temples, including Ta Muen Thom, Ta Muen, and Ta Muen Toch, hold cultural and historical temple, with a Shivling extracted from rocks, and with Sanskrit inscriptions, also gives a peak into the reach of ancient Indian culture and art TEMPLE AREA A FLASHPOINT IN THAILAND-CAMBODIA WARPrasat Ta Muen Thom, or "Great Temple of the Grandfather Chicken" in Khmer, is a Khmer Hindu temple built in the 11th century under King Udayadityavarman II. The temple is dedicated to Lord on a strategic pass in the Dangrek Mountains, it forms part of an ancient Khmer highway linking Angkor in Cambodia to Phimai in temple's location on the contested border between Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province and Thailand's Surin province made it a focal point of tensions between the two Cambodia claims ownership based on historical Khmer Empire boundaries, Thailand asserts that the area lies within its primarily to Shiva, Ta Muen Thom houses a Shivling from a natural rock formation in its sanctum features a rectangular layout with a south-facing main entrance, which is unusual for Khmer temples. They typically faced large gopura (entrance tower) and broad laterite staircase descends towards carvings, including depictions of Hindu deities, show the influence of post-Gupta Indian art. These show cultural and artistic links between the Khmer Empire and the offshoots of the Indian Gupta TA MUEN TEMPLE COMPLEX BECAME BUDDHIST CENTREThe Ta Muen Thom complex also includes two smaller temples: Prasat Ta Muen Toch ("Minor Temple of the Grandfather Chicken"), a hospital chapel, and Prasat Ta Muen, a rest house chapel, located within a few hundred temples, built during the peak of the Khmer Empire (9th–15th centuries), served as critical stops on the ancient Khmer the temples, protected to some extent, lie mostly in ruins, the ongoing war has brought them into proximity of the temple complex to the border, coupled with incomplete boundary demarcation from French colonial maps, has fuelled recurring clashes between the two Shaivite Hindu, the temples later transitioned to Buddhist use as the Khmer Empire embraced Ta Muen later became a center of Mahayana Buddhism, with several structures, including a dharma sala, or rest house for travellers, commissioned by Buddhist King Jayavarman temples are specimens of Khmer architecture, where laterite construction with sandstone elements are key HINDU TEMPLES CAME UP AT CAMBODIA-THAILAND BORDER?The temples' design and iconography trace back to Indian Hindu traditions, which were introduced to Southeast Asia through trade and cultural exchanges, starting in the 1st Khmer Empire adopted Shaivism and Vaishnavism, influenced by South India's Pallava dynasty, which had maritime links to far-off Devaraja (God-King) concept, where rulers were seen as divine embodiments of Shiva or Vishnu, is also similar to the then-contemporary Indian political links are evident in the temples' iconography and Sanskrit inscriptions, which affirm their links to India and its cultural ancient temples were forgotten and lay in ruins. It took a war to bring the temples into public consciousness. - Ends

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