India Says It Is ‘Examining’ Bangladesh's Request to Extradite Sheikh Hasina
New Delhi: India on Wednesday (November 26) confirmed receiving Dhaka's request to extradite deposed premier Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh in light of her death sentence for ‘crimes against humanity’ but did not indicate what position it would take, saying only that it is ‘examining’ the request and ‘remains committed to the best interests of Bangladesh's people’.
“Yes, we have received the request, and this request is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Wednesday at the weekly media briefing when asked about the interim Bangladeshi government's formal request for Hasina's extradition made late last week.
He continued: “We remain committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that country, and will continue to engage constructively in this regard with all stakeholders.”
Bangladesh's interim foreign minister Touhid Hossain also said on Wednesday that Dhaka ‘expects’ to receive a response from India at some point given that “the situation is different” now that Hasina has been convicted.
“I do not expect that they will answer within a week of Dhaka’s request, but we expect we will get an answer,” Bangladesh's official BSS news agency quoted Hossain as saying.
Referring to a previous request for Hasina's extradition that Dhaka had made in December last year and to which India is yet to respond, he said: “Now the situation is different … the judicial process has been completed and they have been convicted.”
Hossain noted that the request was made under the extradition treaty between the two countries signed in 2013 and conveyed to the MEA as a note verbale – or a diplomatic communique – via Bangladesh's high commission in New Delhi.
Earlier this month, the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death for ‘crimes against humanity’ in connection with her regime's violent crackdown on the anti-government protests of July and August of last year that ultimately forced her to flee to India, where she remains to this day.
The tribunal also awarded her then-home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal the death penalty.
Hasina has decried the tribunal as “rigged” and its verdict as “biased and politically motivated”.
The 2013 Indo-Bangladeshi extradition treaty makes an exception for ‘offences of a political character’, although this does not extend to murder, culpable homicide, incitement to murder as well as a number of explosives and terrorism-related charges.
It also allows for either country to deny extradition if the accusation made against someone is determined to “not [have] been made in good faith in the interests of justice”.
Hasina was sentenced to death on charges of ordering the deployment of lethal weapons to kill protesters as well as to life imprisonment on charges including incitement and preventing the atrocities committed during the crackdown, the Daily Star had reported then.
International rights bodies including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have, noting among other things that Hasina was convicted and sentenced in absentia, criticised her trial as unfair.
This article went live on November twenty-sixth, two thousand twenty five, at thirty-five minutes past ten at night.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
