Sheikh Hasina's Extradition a 'Well-Structured' Process, Says India's Envoy in Dhaka
India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, has said that the extradition of deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would follow a "well-structured" legal process, while making clear that no timeline can be fixed for it.
Mr. Trivedi was speaking on Saturday at the Bay of Bengal Conversation, an annual conclave organised by the Dhaka-based Centre for Governance Studies. He was responding, in a session titled "Power and Prudence", to a student's question on Ms. Hasina's extradition.
"Again and again, the Government of India through the spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs has replied to this — that there is a process, and that the process involves legality, and it is well-structured. So, as far as that is concerned, the process is on," he said.
Pressed on when the process might conclude, he said nobody could give a time frame. Noting that India is "as vibrant and democratic as Bangladesh", he said the legal system was at work and would be respected.
Bangladesh's government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, has repeatedly demanded that Ms. Hasina be extradited to face justice over the crackdown during the July–August 2024 protests. Bangladeshi authorities have said at least 800 civilians, many of them students, were killed. A panel under the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights placed the toll at about 1,400.
India and Bangladesh signed an extradition treaty in 2013. The treaty sets out grounds on which a request may be refused, including offences of a "political character".
Ms. Hasina left Dhaka on August 5, 2024, as her government collapsed amid mass protests — first by a military helicopter from near her residence, and then on a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft to India.
Mr. Trivedi said Ms. Hasina had sought refuge in India on the basis of a decision taken by those then governing Bangladesh. "The situation arose because of tragic circumstances in Bangladesh, that must not be repeated anywhere else in the world. At that point in time, Ms. Hasina was still the PM of Bangladesh. We hardly had any choice on that and it was our duty to accept the reality of life," he said.
He referred to the abrupt turn of events at the time, adding that "situations are such, where at times you are not prepared for it". He also recalled that Bangladesh's then existing government machinery facilitated her evacuation, and said, "Ms. Hasina was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or Indian Army."
"What was our choice? If you would have said no to that, and that we were not going to accept, or if we did not give landing permission, then things would have been different," he said.
Mr. Trivedi, who took charge as India's High Commissioner in Dhaka on June 12, also noted that innocent people had died in Bangladesh in the final days of Ms. Hasina's rule.
Legal proceedings against Ms. Hasina have moved ahead in Bangladesh. In November 2025, the International Crimes Tribunal handed death sentences to Ms. Hasina and her former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. On September 15, 2026, it awarded death sentences to several former colleagues, including former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader.
Ms. Hasina has remained in India since August 2024. Her virtual press interaction on August 5 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in New Delhi — her first public remarks after leaving office — drew sharp reaction from the Bangladesh government and caused turbulence in bilateral ties.
Saturday's remarks indicate that India continues to describe the matter as one moving through legal channels rather than as a political decision, leaving the timing of any extradition open. The 2013 treaty's provisions, including the political-offence exception, are likely to remain central to how the case is handled by both governments.
