Hasina Extradition: India Confirms 'Process On,' No Timeline Yet
Hasina Extradition: India Confirms 'Process On,' No Timeline Yet
India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh clarifies the ongoing legal process for Sheikh Hasina's extradition, emphasizing no set timeline and India's complex role in her refuge amid diplomatic tensions.
India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, has confirmed that a \"well-structured\" legal process is underway concerning the extradition of Bangladesh's deposed Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. However, he stressed that no specific timeframe can be provided for her return to Bangladesh, where she faces charges.
Speaking at the Bay of Bengal Conversation, an annual conclave held in Dhaka, Mr. Trivedi addressed persistent questions about Ms. Hasina, who has been living in India since August 2024.
He stated that the Indian government has consistently maintained that a legal process involving "legality" is in place and is progressing.
The current Bangladeshi government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, has repeatedly demanded Ms.
Hasina's extradition to face justice. They allege her involvement in the July-August 2024 crackdown that resulted in the deaths of at least 800 civilians, with some reports from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights putting the toll at around 1,400.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal has already handed down death sentences to Ms.
Hasina and several of her former colleagues in November 2025 and September 2026.
Mr. Trivedi shed light on the circumstances of Ms. Hasina's arrival in India, describing them as \"tragic circumstances\" in Bangladesh. He indicated that India had \"hardly any choice\" but to offer refuge when Ms.
Hasina, then still the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, was evacuated.
He clarified that her airlift from Dhaka and subsequent flight to India on August 5, 2024, were facilitated by Bangladesh's then-existing government machinery, not by Indian forces.
While an extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh was signed in 2013, it includes specific grounds for halting extradition, such as an \"offence of a political character.\" Mr. Trivedi reiterated that India, being a vibrant democracy, respects the legal system and that the process would adhere to it. He emphasized that innocent people had died in Bangladesh during the final days of Ms.
Hasina's rule, a fact he noted upon arriving as the new High Commissioner in June.", "city": "Dhaka
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