Hours before Bangladesh monk Chinmoy Krishna Das' bail in Chattogram court was scheduled to be heard on December 3, ISKCON Kolkata spokesperson Radharamn Das posted a photograph on X of a man lying on a hospital bed with a misleading caption.
Das identified the man as an advocate Ramen Roy and claimed that he was brutally attacked and his house was ransacked by 'Islamists' for being the defense counsel of Hindu leader Chinmoy Das.
Later, on December 3 Bangladeshi media outlet Channel 24 called out Radharamn Das' X post and ran a news bulletin stating that there was no one named Ramen Roy in Chattogram court. The bulletin further claimed that the image shared by Radharamn Das belongs to a lawyer from Patna, Bihar in India. Channel 24 has since pulled down the bulletin.
BOOM in its fact check found that Ramen Roy, a Dhaka-based lawyer, was attacked on November 25 after Chinmoy Krishna Das' arrest from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the photograph from the hospital belongs to him. However claims of his house being ransacked and Roy being the counsel of Chinmoy Das are false.
Indian and Bangladesh media misreport
Several Indian media outlets including The Times Of India , Hindustan Times, DD News, The Indian Express , News 18 , The Print , AajTak Bangla , Zee 24 Ghanta , India Today , Business Standard , ABP Ananda , TV9 Bangla , One India , NDTV, The Hindu amplified Radharmn Das' claim and misreported that Ramen Roy was attacked for representing Chinmoy Krishna Das in the court.
Channel 24, headquartered in Dhaa, countered the claim and stated that no one by the name Ramen Roy was listed as an advocate in Chattogram court. Further, they misidentified the image of the man in the hospital as a Patna-based lawyer. In a news bulletin titled "Lies by Indian media about Chinmoy Das's lawyer" Channel 24 claimed that the image seen in Radharamn Das' X post is of a Patna based lawyer.
Das in an X post later clarified that Ramen Roy was attacked on November 25 and not after the legal proceedings began against Chinmoy Das.
Fact Check
BOOM reached out to Ramen Roy's brother-in-law Tapan Das who confirmed that Roy is a Dhaka-based lawyer and he does not belong to the Chattogram Court. He also clarified that he was attacked on November 25 and was admitted in Dhaka Medical College and Hospital after the attack. Roy was later shifted to a private hospital and is now undergoing treatment in the ICU there.
Das told BOOM, "My wife's brother is Ramendranath Roy. He is an advocate from Dhaka and was informed about Chinmoy Prabhu's arrest on November 25 from the Dhaka Airport. After that he rushed to Shahbag and joined the protests over the arrest. He was attacked during the protest and now he is on life support battling for his life."
Das also clarified that their house was not ransacked, "It is not true that my brother's house was vandalised," he told BOOM.
Tapan Das further corroborated the image and stated that it was taken after he was shifted to the ICU in the hospital but did not wish to disclose further details.
We then reached out to Prasenjit Halder, spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, a coalition of Hindu organisations of the country of which Chinmoy Krishna Das is also a representative.
Halder told BOOM that Roy was not the defense counsel of Chinmoy Krishna Das in Chattogram Court. "Ramen Roy had come to Shahbag to join the protests as a supporter of Chinmoy Prabhu. Incidentally, he is an advocate by profession. He was not attacked because of the same."
Halder was also present at the protests of November 25. "We had all gathered in front of the Detective Branch office on Minto Road after hearing about the arrest. But when the police asked us to leave, we moved to the Shahbag area, which is an intersection of four roads, to hold a peaceful protest."
Halder further told BOOM, "Soon after a mob came with sharp objects and attacked us. I also received injuries and Ramen Roy was severely attacked on his head. He was soon rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital."
Halder also shared photos of Roy's injuries which show he was seriously wounded.
BOOM had earlier debunked false claims about Saiful Islam, a lawyer from Chattogram Court, who was misidentified as the defense counsel of Chinmoy Krishna Das. A clarification by the official Facebook page of Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus' Press Wing known as the CA Press Wing Facts had then stated that the vakalatnama produced by Chinmoy Krishna Das to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court has shown that advocate Subasish Sharma is his lawyer."
BOOM has reached out to Sharma for a comment. The article will be updated as and when we get a response.