A court in Chittagong denied bail to the man charged with sedition as India cautioned about justice for minorities.

Police in Bangladesh have used tear gas against Hindus protesting against the arrest of a religious leader as neighbouring India called for ensuring the safety of Hindus and minorities in the Muslim-majority nation.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, also known as Krishna Das Prabhu, was arrested at Dhaka airport on Monday on charges including sedition.

A court in the port city of Chittagong on Tuesday denied bail to the priest associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), widely known as the Hare Krishna movement.

According to the city’s police, more than 2,000 supporters surrounded the van and blocked its path for some time when Das was being escorted back to prison from court.

The demonstrators threw bricks at the police and officers fired tear gas to disperse the crowds, said Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz, who added no one was seriously hurt.

Das’s arrest set off protests by his supporters in both Chittagong, the country’s second-largest city, and the capital, Dhaka.

India noted the arrest and denial of bail with “deep concern”. The neighbouring Hindu-majority country’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the incident follows attacks on Hindus and other minorities, along with places of worship, by “extremist elements in Bangladesh”.

It said the perpetrators of those incidents remain at large while Bangladeshi authorities pressed charges against “a religious leader presenting legitimate demands through peaceful gatherings”.

Sedition charges were filed against Das in October after he led a large rally in Chittagong, during which it is accused he disrespected Bangladesh’s national flag.

The rally was aimed at demanding justice for Hindus facing targeted attacks in Bangladesh and seeking better protections for minorities.

The interim government, which took over in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s flight from the country on August 5 amid a mass uprising against her rule earlier this year, has said the threat to Hindus is being exaggerated and they are working on the issue.

While there was large-scale looting and the ransacking of national monuments and government buildings in the wake of Hasina’s overthrow, student leaders who spearheaded the protests had also asked supporters to guard Hindu temples and churches.

More than 90 percent of the population in Bangladesh is Muslim, with Hindus – many of who support Hasina’s Awami League party – making up almost all of the rest.

“We urge Bangladesh authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities, including their right of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression,” the Indian ministry said.

Russian forces captured a former British Army soldier who was fighting with Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, according to reports on Monday.

In a video, the prisoner of war was sitting on a bench with his hand restrained as he identified himself as 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Anderson.

Russia’s Tass news agency reported on Monday that Russian security officials confirmed a British mercenary had been captured in the Kursk area.

“I was in the British Army before, from 2019 to 2023, 22 Signal Regiment,” Anderson told Russian authorities while being recorded. “Just a private. I was a signalman. One Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment, 252 Squadron.”

RUSSIA TRICKS YEMENI MEN TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE UNDER HOUTHI SCHEME

He expressed regret for joining Ukraine in its fight against Russia, explaining he had nearly lost everything.

When he left the military, he got fired from his job and applied on the International Legion (of Ukraine) webpage.

“I had just lost everything. I just lost my job. My dad was away in prison. I see it on the TV,” Anderson said while shaking his head. “It was a stupid idea.”

RUSSIA IS SUPPLYING HOUTHIS WITH SATELLITE DATA TO ATTACK SHIPS IN THE RED SEA: REPORT

Former British Army soldier James Scott Rhys Anderson was reportedly captured by Russian forces in the Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine. (Credit: East2West)

The International Legion for Defense of Ukraine was created at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The Associated Press reported that the Legion is a unit of Ukraine’s ground forces that mainly consists of foreign volunteers.

Anderson reportedly served as an instructor for Ukrainian troops and was deployed to the Kursk region against his will.

In the video, he said his commander took his stuff — passport, phone and other items — and ordered him to go to the Kursk region.

UKRAINE TO ANALYZE FRAGMENTS OF MISSILE FIRED BY RUSSIA CAPABLE OF CARRYING NUCLEAR WARHEADS

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian servicemen hide from shelling, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine August 13, 2024.  (REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File Photo)

“I don’t want to be here,” Anderson said. 

The AP could not independently verify the report, but if confirmed, it said this could be one of the first publicly known cases of a Western national getting captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.

The U.K. Embassy in Moscow told the wire officials were “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention” though no other details were provided.

Anderson’s father, Scott Anderson, told Britain’s Daily Mail that his son’s Ukrainian commander informed him the young man had been captured.

A serviceman of 24th Mechanized brigade named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2s5 “Hyacinth-s” self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 18, 2024.  (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS )

The senior Anderson also said his son served in the British military for four years, worked as a police custody officer, and then went to Ukraine to fight. He told the paper he tried to convince his son not to join the Ukrainian military, and now fears for his safety.

“I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip, but my son told me they torture their prisoners, and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured,” he told Britain’s Daily Mail.

While being questioned, the younger Anderson talked about how he got to Ukraine from Britain, saying he flew to Krakow, Poland from London Luton. From there, he took a bus to Medyka in Poland, which is on the Ukrainian border.

Anderson’s capture comes amid reports Russia is recruiting hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in its war in Ukraine by luring them to Russia under false pretenses in coordination with the Houthi terrorist network, as reported by the Financial Times.

A senior Ukrainian defense official told Fox News that Moscow is trying to involve as many foreign mercenaries as possible in its war against Ukraine, whether from its allies or proxies in poor, impoverished countries.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense similarly confirmed the report to Fox News and said, “Russi[a] has escalated this war twice recently. First, when they brought North Korean fighters, and second, when they used [a] ballistic missile in Ukraine.”

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Nana Sajaia, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.